Even as Obama is focusing on gun control and the debt ceiling, the New York Times reports that he’s preparing to launch his major push for immigration reform in the first months of his second term:
President Obama plans to push Congress to move quickly in the coming months on an ambitious overhaul of the immigration system that would include a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, senior administration officials and lawmakers said last week.
Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, the officials said, resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers or highly skilled foreigners — which might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept.
The president and Democrats will also oppose measures that do not allow immigrants who gain legal status to become American citizens one day, the officials said.
According to the Times, administration officials are already crafting proposals, since they think it will be easier to move this forward at the beginning of Obama’s second term. There are few details on the White House plan so far, but the must-haves reportedly include a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country; implementing a national citizenship-verification system for employers similar to E-Verify; and establishing a guest-worker program.
Based on the scant details, Obama’s proposal doesn’t sound far off from Senator Marco Rubio’s, which is also still in the works. The biggest difference seems to be that Obama wants his reform passed as one single piece of legislation, while Rubio wants to introduce his in parts.
These comprehensive bills are Obama’s M.O. It makes it easier for him to include controversial proposals, since GOP objections to a portion of the bill will be portrayed as objections to the entire bill. It’s also a good way to obscure the debate–demonize your opponents for opposing immigration reform instead of engaging them on the specific measure they’re criticizing.
There are signs the GOP is serious about tackling immigration reform, including Paul Ryan’s endorsement of Rubio’s plan, and a bipartisan group of senators called the “Gang of Eight” that’s busy on its own bill. We’ll see if Obama uses this as an opportunity to actually work with Republicans toward a reasonable solution, or if he just sees it as another chance to score political points.
Can someone, anyone, please remind everyone in DC that JOBS are STILL the #1 problem? n nStop letting Obama keep changing his agenda. It seems to all be about destroying the GOP, and we still have a totally broken economy. n nyou just had to run Romney
Romney was a decent man. I also think he was the most qualified to fix our main problem, namely the economy. The guy ran one of the most successful PE companies, and has as good a handle on what makes companies run than anyone I have listened to. n nNo, Obama won as he always has. He fought hard and dirty. Quite frankly, I don't see Republicans ever beating him because they do not. They do not control the narrative, and the MSM understands that most Americans really are too stupid to pay attention to the issues. So, they turn critical issues into black and white statements that people can understand. Unfortunately, they are so in the tank for Obama and the Dem's agenda that they will distort that narrative. Obama plays them like a fiddle. n nI do not see the Republicans ever beating this playbook – ever. That is because the only way to do it is to go after the MSM hard. They need to make them understand that there is a consequence for distorting and lying to the American people. I am not recommending violence (something you see condoned with regards to union thugs and the Dems), but I am suggesting that you go after the power holders financially and ruin them. n nThe Republicans will not do this. They are white boys who go to church on Sundays and abstain form this sort of behavior. So, we will lose to the Alinsky / street fighters… n nThe next thing the Republicans would need to do is attack its source – Universities; specifically journalism schools. It is bad enough that they indoctrinate our kids, but with good parenting, they outgrow the nonsense they hear. But, journalism schools, that is where they perpetuate the narrative that the US is the cause of all evil in the world and that it is their job to report it.
Immigration overhaul, immigration reform, immigration renovation — call it what you will. I call it “immigration surrender.”r nr nWe pass our laws, but if 12 million Mexicans choose to flout them, and millions of weak-minded leftists encourage them, then our government says, “We surrender. Anybody who wants to — come on down!”r n .
Why would anyone here illegally who's suddenly made legal with the stroke of a pen now worry about overstaying their ill defined visa? Been there done that. Why would they take seriously some long tortured process to put them on the grid and in the system if they can't be tossed out of the country anyhow. All they need do is now pay for car insurance. And that's more or less about it.
I prefer the Israeli model. Build a wall, jail the infiltrators, send them back to from whence they came. Allow in only co-ethnics. n nIf jobs is the issue, immigration is part of the problem.
Grumpy has the right idea, let’s do immigration like the Israelis do…huge, defended wall on the border, roundup & massive deportation of illegals and only allow Western Europeans immigrants to this country. Let’s push that today!
Back in 1987 or so, the "deal" was that everyone already here would be made legal, but no one else would be allowed in illegally. That worked ever so well, didn't it, and they want us to believe that they claim of "No Mas" is serious THIS time? n nReagan's amnesty ENCOURAGED all kinds of illegal immigration attempts — and Obama's amnesty (which is what this will be) will only serve to encourage exponentially more. It would be like the government retroactively voiding all speeding tickets at the end of each year — people wouldn't care how many they got the next year because they knew they would all be voided as well… n
I believe the massive immigration of the past 47 years has definitely harmed the employment prospects of lower class American citizens. However, nobody seems to care about that.
nComprehensive Immigration Reform is paved with a two Trillion dollar deficit, according to The Heritage Foundation. n nMore than a quarter of the $1 trillion spent on welfare in the United States goes directly to the households of immigrants, illegal parents and their children. And two out of three jobs created in the last four years went to legal immigrants and illegal aliens. These jobs would lift Americans out of hardship, and reduce entitlement spending still more. Instead, just last month, the unemployment rate among black Americans rose to 14 percent. n n nThe problem isn't only an illegal alien issue; most legal immigrants use at least one welfare program. The problem is simply too much immigration. In fact, we are told many illegal migrants and immigrants have gone home since the start of the recession, but yet the number of legal immigrants in America continues to explode at over a million annually. n nSome immigration makes good judgment, included the abbreviated STEM variety of scientific professionals, technical workers, engineers and mathematicians’ But such gigantic levels of legal and illegal immigration are keeping Americans trapped in poverty, but with the expansion of children slipping into America in deliberately gain citizenship by their parents bringing them here. This explosion of people is causing almost irreversible issues with the U.S. federal deficit, not to mention the busting with all 50 state budgets! Insist Senators and House Republicans get the message that we cannot afford to subsidize the financial problems of the world’s population anymore. Tell them to stop importing poverty. Tell them to halt it at the border and at the airline terminals. Do what other countries do and actually track foreign nationals, who overstay their visitor visas and cannot be that complicated. n nAmerica spends more than a trillion dollars on programs to help our own unemployed and disadvantaged. So why are we importing millions of immigrants to compete for jobs and resources with them? Why is it not a Felony to enter this sovereign nation without a proper visa? n nCongress should help the jobless and destitute Americans in getting decent-paying employment and not importing millions of new workers to take entry-level jobs. In February 24, 1995 the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by civil rights activist Barbara Jordan, called for cutting annual legal immigration in half. This would still be double the historical average, and allow for plenty of reasonable immigration and not a over populated country of desperate, poor people. The primary reason for the cutting immigration that the commission cited was that every time immigration levels have been high — and they are higher in the past decade than every — wages fell and poverty rose. With so many millions of unemployed Americans and the nation in such dire fiscal crises, the commission's findings are even more important now than ever. n nAs Congress considers many "immigration reform" proposals, keep in mind that the reforms we need are those that result in more job openings, less poverty, and lower spending. The American citizenry must demand “THE LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT” to remove illegal aliens from the workplace using mandated E-Verify. Also needed is the “BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL”, to end given immediate citizenship to smuggled children into the United States as it is the most expensive negative payout. This amendment in the 14TH Amendment was a legal advantage to freed slaves and their future offspring, not for every smuggled child into this country. n