Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Obama Discusses Immigration Reform with Hispanic Lawmakers

President Barack Obama met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House on Tuesday for the third time in the last several weeks to discuss pushing immigration reform in Congress.

“He is committed and will be leaning into this issue in a very serious and very vigorous way. We are upping the intensity on this issue, and hopefully the information and facts about this issue will compel people to act,” Melody Barnes, Obama’s top domestic policy adviser, said.

Hoping to appease both sides of the immigration issue and garner bi-partisan support in Congress, Obama’s plan calls for stronger enforcement of current immigration laws, but also would allow for the  creation of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

At Tuesday’s meeting, however, lawmakers urged Obama to use his power to halt the deportations or grant temporary citizenship to undocumented students if they have lived in the U.S. for five years and do not have a criminal record.

“The meeting was not about granting legal status to the 12 million or so undocumented immigrants, but rather how to prioritize deporting drug dealers and gangsters, but not to deport DREAM Act students and the families of U.S. citizens,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a staunch advocate of immigration reform and one of the most vocal members of Congress on the issue.

With Republicans in control of the House now, chances are slim that any immigration legislation would pass, but with the issue being a top priority for Hispanics, which the Census showed accounted for more than half of the nation’s population growth in the last decade, the issue isn’t likely to go away anytime soon.

The president’s handling of the issue going into the 2012 election season is considered key in his campaign to win over Hispanic voters.  As a voting bloc, Hispanics played a pivotal role in handing over victories to Democrats in last year’s mid-term elections.

“This is in fact a problem that Congress is going to have to step up to the table and work with us to get done and get done on a bipartisan basis,” Barnes said.

Examiner

Washington Post

Comments

  1. Brittanicus says

    IF STATE RESIDENTS ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR IMMIGRATION LAWS, THEN JOIN THE TEA PARTY.

    Remember who your Political adversaries are in coming elections, whose main concern is more votes and additional amounts of illegal cheap labor. Hundreds of thousands of low income, less educated Americans of every skin color, has been replaced by illegal alien workers hired by dirty business owners, whose only concern is to fill their pockets with more money by exploiting and underpaying.

    PLEASE TAKE AN ACCOUNTING OF WHICH POLITICIAN IS WORKING FOR YOU THE TAXPAYER? ARIZONA WAS JUSTIFIED AS A FRONTIER STATE, TO STOP THE FINANCIAL DEGRADATION BY ILLEGAL ALIENS SETTLING THERE. THE ARIZONA GOVERNOR JAN BREWER AND STATE SENATOR PIERCE ARE STILL FIGHTING OVERWHELMING ODDS IN THE MILITANT COURTS AND THE LIBERAL CZARS IN OUR FEDERAL CAPITOL. AMERICA IS A LAND OF LAWS, WHICH LEFTISTS AND SOME OF THE RIGHT TEND TO FORGET? MANY STATES WILL SOON ENOUGH LEARN OF THEIR ERROR FOR NOT LISTENING TO ITS PEOPLE. UNKNOWN NUMBERS OF FRESH ECONOMIC MIGRANTS WILL ATTACH THEMSELVES TO THE COMMUNITIES, EXHAUSTING EVEN MORE TAXPAYER DOLLARS. SOME STATES COULD BECOME ANOTHER CALIFORNIA OR NEVADA, WITH INCREASING CRIME AND A WELFARE TROUGH FOR EVERY FOREIGN NATIONAL TO DRINK FROM?

    We need more tough new politicians as US Rep. Lou Barletta to strengthen our borders fence, build a legal barrier of cutting further settlement of illegal nationals. He showed his abilities when he stood against the US government, the (ACLU) American Communist Lawyers Union, US Chamber of Commerce and the open border rapid leftists. As a man of conviction he would appreciate the TEA PARTY platform as a great organizer to draw in more Americans to our causes.

    Our lawmakers must be persuaded by the threat of being voted out of office, that they must mandate such logical laws as mandating E-Verify, Secure communities and the 287 G. Our honest politicians should insure its unhealthy for businesses to hire illegal aliens. Not just small restaurant chains, but high end companies as McDonald franchises Become a “Whistle Blower” and report illegal aliens working to ICE or local police. Whistle blowers can send these company owners to prison; making hefty fines and loss of business assets essential. If ICE agency doesn’t respect your patriotic duty, leave a message with NumbersUSA, as they will contact the right entities in the DC Capital. These people are not just the Senators or Congressmen-Women in Washington, but it’s also a mixed bag of Governors, Mayors, Police Chiefs and a wide range of city managers. Many of these Liberal-Democrats are in Congress to feather their own nests from special interest groups; there are no mitigating circumstances for hard line, wealthy Republicans either. Good Righteous Americans have come to the end of their tether, that’s why “THE PEOPLE’S” TEA PARTY was born?

    The Obama government of today and yesteryear administration has seen fit, to cater to the illegal immigration invaders, and now years of disgusting failures and complete incompetence is driving federal and State treasuries into bankruptcy. How many Trillions of dollars could America have packed into infrastructure, welfare nets, balancing federal State and local government, if that deceased Lib-Democrat Ted Kennedy hadn’t rescinded the nationality “Quota System?.” If the previous President LBJ’ Immigration law had remained steadfast? But today with have nothing but economic illegal aliens threading their way across a poorly funded border; undermanned with no troops present to stop this incursion. Now America is going through a huge crime wave, as the sewers of South America have opened spilling there offal and bringing with it unfettered death and destruction to the American people. In Americas future we should issue special visas, for the highest caliber of talented, experienced professionals that will never become a public charge. Now our nation already has countless people living below the poverty line, so we must stop more indigent from across the Southern border, as taxpayers shouldn’t be carrying that burden anymore?

    To ensure America’s future and your children, we must bring to a halt this invasion of our sovereign nation. The Liberal progressives and their philosophy have no respect for people’s freedom and self determination. We cannot afford to feed the world or allow activist judges to supersede laws such as illegal alien schooling or free health care. Our only real choice is to unseat the factions of “Tax and Spend” We have massive US deficit through entitlement programs that is partially caused by the 300.000 annual Birthright baby citizenship law illegal parents to settle with expenditures in the billions of taxpayer dollars. The TEA PARTY has an unparalleled growth membership that is threatening the two party system of government, which is totally destroying this country through partisan economics. But the TEA PARTY is rapidly moving ahead with the assurance, that the illegal immigration occupation will be halted. The TEA PARTY will not vote for any Sanctuary State policies; NO Chain Migration; NO more Amnesties as promised by the late Teddy Kennedy; NO more Immigration Reform packages of any kind.

    All new members are welcome as long as you entered this country legally, without any prejudiced to your previous skin color, religion or allegiance to a foreign nation. This is a firm commitment to honest legal immigrants, who have assimilated into the American culture. America can no longer support the impoverished peoples in our country or across the Earth. COME! Join us today! Join your local chapter or national TEA PARTY, and make your single voice join tens of millions more against the corruption in Washington. Call and raise hell with your local and federal lawmaker at Senate—202-224–3121/ House—202-225–3121 or locate the in your phone directory blue pages. Learn the immigration grades of those amongst lawmakers at NumbersUSA.

    Attn: America is being ripped-off by Communist China, Mexico and other countries in unfair trade agreements. Our nation is losing our manufacturing to foreign cheap labor countries. As Donald Trump stated, “Place a 25% import tax on every product that enters our country. Stop subsidizing American companies that have disappeared overseas. They businesses will return if we begin taxing everything that comes through customs?