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Subscribe to RSSEL PASO, Texas -- Expect to hear a lot more about immigration in the next two years, but not because anything is likely to get done on Capitol Hill.
In a speech that had all the hallmarks of a campaign -- the hand shaking, the outdoor event, chants of “Yes, we can” -- President Obama sought to build a “movement” around comprehensive immigration reform.
“We need Washington to know that there is a movement for reform gathering strength from coast to coast,” Obama said here steps from the U.S.-Mexico border. “That’s how we’ll get this done.”
And there were plenty of political shots to go around, especially for Republicans.
"We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement," Obama said. "But even though we've answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They'll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They'll say we need a higher fence to support reform. Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat.
"They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics."
The president, however -- in his first trip here to the border since taking office -- did not offer any new details on what he would like to see in an immigration-reform bill, nor did he press a timeline. (The specifics he offered today were similar to what was offered in his July 2010 speech.) Aboard Air Force One earlier today, NBC’s Athena Jones reports that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he would not preview their legislative strategy.
One thing is clear, pressing this issue publicly is important to Obama’s reelection chances. Hispanics are the largest-growing group in the country, according to 2010 Census data. They now comprise 16% of the U.S. population, yet they comprised just 9% of the 2008 electorate. And they broke overwhelmingly for Obama, 67%-31%.
President Obama also talked about how immigrants have made great contributions to the country – in creating businesses like Intel and Google, that they, for the most part, come to America looking for work and to help their families. But he tried to strike a moderate tone, again saying immigrants who came here illegally and broke the rules need to pay a fine, learn English and go to the back of the line.
“Everyone recognizes the system is broken,” Obama said. “The question is, will we summon the political will to do something about it?”
He blamed “politics,” “rhetoric,” and “Washington games” on why comprehensive immigration reform hasn’t passed in Congress.
“The question is whether those in Congress who previously walked away in the name of enforcement are now ready to come back to the table and finish the work we’ve started,” the president said. “We have to put the politics aside. And if we do, I’m confident we can find common ground. Washington is behind the country on this.”
He continued, “[T]there is a consensus around fixing what’s broken. Now we need Congress to catch up to a train that’s leaving the station.”
The president now heads to Austin, Texas, for two fundraisers for his reelection.
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Mr. President, I wish you were more worried about me, an American Citizen, paying $4.00/gallon for gas... I also wish that you cared, just a little, that I have more Ramen Noodles in my shopping cart than your wife's "nutritious fruits and veggies"! I wish you had just a smidgen of concern for the fact that my BFWB health insurance deductible went from $500/year to $2500/year (BTW, that's in network, out of network it's $5000/year), not to mention the substantial hike in the monthly premium. And all that took effect for 2011....
I realize that you have an insatiable need to get more voters under your "yes we can" banner but I am in this country legally and you need to show more concern for me and the taxes that I'm forced to hand over to the DC crowd to squander.
Oh and one more thing, Mr. President... Maybe you could put in a good word for those CIA employees that your AG is still intending to prosecute. After all, they had a hand in giving your poll ratings a healthy boost...
Why buy votes when you can give them away free, free cars for "WHATEVER" free food, free life long welfare, free,free,free,free oh what tha F#CK I give up it's free right...........................................................
Im just glad we got enought Republicans to hold obama down till he gets voted out in 2012 or we gona have more illegals than we can feed .
The Mexican Border is now under Republican control as a result of the recent election. This means that Arizona can build its own multi-layer fence, Texas can employ the Texas Rangers, and New Mexico can use National Guard helicopters.
The best solutions are usually the simplest, so why not fly apprehended illegal aliens to Belize and let them walk back 2000 miles? The associated cost, time and hassle might create a tangible barrier to reentry.
Trying to fix the illegal problem is like tying to solve the illegal drug problem in the United States There will never be a legitimate fix so there is no reason to spend time and tax payer money on worthless campaign's to try and cure the problem.
What can be done is too increase the fines and penalties against companies who employ illegal immigrant's.
Just a little pre-election pandering to the "undocumented democrats".
Obama has been campaigning for months now. If he insists on tackling the immigration battle he stands to either lose the 2012 election (God willing) or lose campaign contributions from latino special interest groups.
Stop all immigration until unemployment goes down.
Job growth anemic, check - Economy still shaky, check - Inflation running wild, check - Gas prices a dollar more a gallon than a year ago, check - bombing new country, check - deficit rising full speed, check - lets talk about immigration !
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain..................
Obama doesn't know FACTS! He knows how to read his teleprompter and that is it. His facts come from his handlers in the back room
Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Immigration Reform or what ever you want to call it, it still is AMNESTY.
The only people who want AMNESTY are Democrats, illegal aliens, drug addicts, bed wetter's, rodeo clowns, liars, cheats and idiots.
"The only people who want AMNESTY are Democrats, illegal aliens, drug addicts, bed wetter's, rodeo clowns, liars, cheats and idiots."
And to ONLY things conservatives want to do is what they always do -- whine, gripe, complain, yell, scream and bit-h about illegal immigration while keeping a cheap labor pool for their corporate cash cows.
Charlie if the conservatives want to keep the cheap labor pool for their corporations then it is in your best interest to oppose amnesty and support securing the border and forcing the illegal aliens to self deport. This can be accomplished by the democrats supporting the arresting, convicting and jailing employers who hire illegal aliens.
If you believe that amnesty will end illegal aliens invading this country the Brooklyn bridge is still up for sale. Amnesty was tried in 1986 and was an utter failure. A second round of amnesty will only show the rest of the world that we are not serious about securing our borders and more illegal aliens will begin the next round of the illegal alien invasion and the beginning of the 3 amnesty program.
Obozo seems more concerned about illegal aliens than the American people who are paying $4.00 a gallon for gas, watching more and more people lose their homes, inflation, the dollar losing its value, higher grocery prices, a huge national debt, balancing the budget, two wars that cost millions everyday and a war on terror.
This President has no shame. He doesn't have a problem spending billions of dollars on foreign aid, wanting Immigration Reform or a DREAM ACT or Comprehensive Immigration Reform which is AMNESTY, while the American people are suffering with higher prices; lose of jobs and home foreclosures. Fannie, Freddie and the U.S. Post Office have lost over $10 BILLION dollars in the first quarter of this year yet Obozo wants Immigration Reform.
I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL 2012 and we get a new President and Senate. Playtime for the Democrats will be over.
I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL 2012
LOL!!! You won't get a new one until 2016. And as long as the craziest of the crazies continue to run the Republican Party, the one you get in 2016 will be a Democrat.
You really believe what the biased L I B E R A L news and entertainment media say, dont ya charlie? Try listening to the American people who are sick and tired of our white house being held captive for the last three+ years and are going to make sure that obama is un-employed in 2012.
Off topic, but since MSNBC isn't touching it:
Nice to know that Obama feels the elite are worthy and capable of seeing Bin Laden dead.... the dumb, uncivilized masses do not deserve to see a mass murderer dead, only his victims.
Bin Laden death photos to be shown to some members of Congress
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, confirmed that the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee would be given the opportunity.
Asked whether she planned to avail herself of it, she told CNN, "I actually haven't thought much about it, but I likely will."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/10/congress.bin.laden.photos/index.html?hpt=T1
Why you ask? No other reason than Obama feels they are deserving... "the little people" not so much.
There is no value in increasing the population of a dying economy, especially with unskilled masses.
What's the value of immigration?
In 2007, the President's Council of Economic Advisers tried to balance these gains and losses. They totaled all the gains, subtracted the losses and concluded that our present immigration conferred a net benefit of ... hold your excitement ... somewhere between 0.22% of national income and 0.60% of national income..
(And as economist George Borjas notes, the CEA could reach the higher end number, 0.6%, only by ignoring the economic harm done by new immigration to the immediately prior immigrants.)
That seems a poor payoff for the disruption caused by mass migration. Imagine if your kid's classroom went from zero non-English-speakers to 10 in just a couple of years. Then you are told that this turmoil is adding just fractions of a penny to the national income? Surely you'd ask: Why are we doing this?
It does not have to be this way. If we chose our immigrants differently, immigration would upgrade the average skill level of the U.S. population. (As is, 31% of immigrants have not completed high school.) If we chose our immigrants differently, they could contribute more in taxes than they require in benefits. (As is, immigrants are 50% more likely to be poor than the native-born.)
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, immigrants arrived with higher skills and soon gained higher incomes than the native born. That's how immigration still works in Canada and Australia. Their immigration systems are race-neutral and favor prospective immigrants who arrive with language skills, advanced degrees or capital to invest.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-20/opinion/frum.immigration.debate_1_dream-act-george-borjas-new-immigration?_s=PM:OPINION
P.S.
Survey: 85% of New College Grads Move Back in with Mom and Dad
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/10/survey-85-of-new-college-grads-moving-back-in-with-mom-and-dad/?hpt=C2
Democrats are willing to give everyone's future away (except for their families of course) to rule over a smoldering garbage pile, rather than work hard to fix a nations problems.
pjam09 - your notation about college grads moving back in with mom and dad reminded me of a time shortly after graduating and having no job within my major (but I did have a factory job to pay expenses) I enquired about moving back home. My dads reply was short, there are no jobs around here, companies are laying off. if you have a job meeting expenses stay there until the economy improves..
Excuse me, but the story says the "train is leaving the station". Actually there hasn't been a single vote in either the house or the Senate. What train? What station? There weren't any hearings of the Gueterriz bill last year either, athough there was lots of griping about the bill.
If the "train is leaving", then where are John McCain and and Joe Lieberamn? Where's Sen Lindsey Graham? Is Sen Jim DeMint on bard? NO one has asked Sens Amy Klobuchar or Al Franken if they support the bill.
If the train is leaving the stationi s Gov Jan Brewer on board?
Did President Obama deliver a political speech? Yes, he certainly did. In case no one has noticed, a presidental election is coming up. While the Republicans are scrambling to find a viable candidate, President Obama is preparing to direct the narrative of the coming campaign. President Obama is trying to make the coming campaign about middle class America and Latino immigrants are in the middle class.
The Republicans run on security and national defense. Do you think any Republican candidate is going to challenge Barrack Obama on those issues?
The Republicans run on fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. History is not on the side of Republicans concerning fiscal responsibility. President Obama has actually cut taxes MORE than the freshly elected Republicans are trying to. Do you think the Republicans are going to seriously raise those issues?
Nope, the Republicans will run their campaign on health care, entitlements, and the state of the economy. President Obama appears to be attempting to direct that narrative to the health of the middle class. If the President succeeds then the candidates will have to run on their records. Admittedly that is risky for the President but he has repeatedly shown that risks are something to embrace.
no one will be foolish enough to vote for obama again, they can't wait to be freed from the great obama depression where jobs are difficult to find, you get pay cuts instead of pay raises and the cost of food keeps going up and the cost of gas is killing you. doesnt matter who the gop chooses they will win by a landside and take a super majority in the house in senate with them! vote tea party were takin america back!
no one will be foolish enough to vote for obama again, they can't wait to be freed from the great obama depression
Well -- get used to it because the Republicans have NOBODY to run against him in 2012. Also, most people know this is the great BUSH depression and the only answers republicans have are the same things that caused the great Bush depression on the first place -- tax breaks for the richest of the rich and more deregulation.
18 months is a long time to hold your breath, but please start right now.
Leave it to charlie to go back to blaming Bush for the democratic induced depression we are in.
Another lie from the democatic prophet! Tell me you people from Texas and Arizona,,,are you more secure? That is the only chance of hussain obama to get re-elected,,is have the ILLEGALS vote too!
obama quit calling it immigration reform and be honest and call it what it is, amnesty for illegals and the right to vote so they can make sure you dems win
Another pass by the liberals...
Obama flew over TWO natural disasters to get to Texas to talk about amnesty for illegals and fund raise for his billion dollar campaign!
I sure hope you Hispanics are smarter than he thinks you are.
The ONLY way to resolve this problem is to improve the standard of living in Mexico
kevin Mexico is a rich country with many natural resources and as I look at it they are not interested in improving the standard of living. They would rather export their poor to the United States of America.
You have to ask yourself what their agenda is, personally I beleive it is to load up the southwestern United States and through shear numbers attempt to return that land to Mexico.
John; So kind of a calculated slow invasion ???? We just need to redirect our foriegn/middle east "nation building" efforts and trillions of dollars towards our direct neighbor: Mexico
So kevin you want us to pull out of Afghanistan a poor nation with no natural resources and a hot bed of muslim terrorists and send our money to Mexico a country with many natural resources, hmmmm makes a lot of sense if you are 5th grader.
"NO AMNESTY, NO AMNESTY"
Well -- that makes for a great sound bite, and it may be lots of fun to scream it, but considering the FBI can't even round up their 10 most wanted in a years time, how are we going to find somewhere between 12 and 20 million illegals? If screaming "NO AMNESTY, NO AMNESTY" is all you want to do, they you don't actually want to fix our immigration system.
This is not about immigration reform it is all about immigration capitulation, and dividing this nation along ethnic and racial lines in order to get votes for the upcoming election in 2012.
Supposedly we had immigration reform in 1986 and our illustrious representatives in Congress and consecutive Presidents did absolutely nothing to stem the flow of more illegal aliens entering into our country.
It is time to finish putting up the fence, go after the employers of illegal aliens and stop giving our wealth to foreign invaders. We do not need to round up millions of illegal aliens in this country. Take away the jobs, the benefits and they will self deport.
We need to do whatever it takes to insure that the 14th amenment is used for the original purpose for which it was passed.
The only comprehensive bill that we need is one that forces able bodied American citizens to transform from welfare to workfare in order to take jobs that illegal aliens are now holding.
The only industry that needs legal migrant workers is the agriculture industry and that can be addressed as a separate stand alone issue.
This is not about immigration reform it is all about immigration capitulation, and dividing this nation along ethnic and racial lines in order to get votes for the upcoming election in 2012.
Yep -- Republicans have been doing exactly that since the 2008 election with things like "he's not one of us" and "we want OUR country back" and "he's a Muslim" and "socialist" or "communist" or "fascist" and then we have those nasty government workers the Republicans have targeted.
charlie obviously you are an open borders, one world government citizen of the world. I am an American Citizen and my loyalties lie with the United States of America. I don't care what ethnic, or race you are as long as you are a citizen of the United States and not an illegal alien.
I am a registered democrat since 1972 and a Union member for almost 34 years and the notion that only republicans are opposed to amnesty and immigration reform is ludicrous. I know many democrats and Union members that are vehemently opposed to any and all forms of amnesty.
It amazes me that most democrats don't understand that illegal immigration runs counter to their best interests. As I read postings after postings by liberals attacking big business it amuses me when those same people blindly support illegal aliens right to come here and take the very jobs that are usually occupied by liberal democrats.
Once the meat packing industry was filled with Union jobs, no longer they are held by illegal aliens. The construction jobs were once held by people who considered themselves liberal, no longer many of those jobs are now filled by illegal aliens. The hospitality industry was once filled with people of the liberal persuasion but no longer those jobs are now primarily held by illegal aliens. Oh I missed the strategy, once the illegal aliens are given amnesty they will become registered democrats, but they will still hold the same jobs that American citizens could and should be holding.
I understand the thought process of the Union leadership, if these illegal aliens are given amnesty they will sign the old check off card and become Union members. How does that help the rank and file liberals looking for jobs when the illegal aliens are still occupying the jobs and American citizens are still out of work.
Liberals complain about politicians, well let me tell you that as a 27 year elected official of my Local Union the people running the International Unions are no different than the politicians you attack every day. Money and power is what they are after.
some of the numbers being floated around, and who knows what numbers one can beleive is that illegals could make up up to 5% of the workforce in the boarder states.
We sure could use thos jobs. The President has done some things on the boarder, but I believe that most of the country still wants the boarder secure before they offer any amnisty to the illegals that are here. We are a long way form that.
I see many post here that say Obama has lead in many areas, but in what direction. His stimulis might have brought aobut a soft landing but it will prolong the pain of a sluggish economy. His apology tour did not make american sTronger in the world but made here appear to be weak, this has brought about the attempted attacks on US soil. Obamacare will not bring down the cost of healthcare and is actually causing insurance premiums to skyrocket.
So what do we really need. We need to close the boarder, and tehn we need to send those that are here illegally home and let them go thorugh the proper channels to return to this nation. We have immigration laws, we just do not inforce them.
Obama, Campaigner In Chief has no time to concentrate our national interests. His personal ambition of continuing to flood our nation with illegals, for his personal benefit, not only serves to enhance his re-election efforts. It also furthers his efforts to meet the goals set by george soros to socialize our country.
Obama realizes at some point he will no longer president. He expects that after his term soros will appoint him King of America. There has to be a song there.
"From a Puppet to a King"?
Obama mentioned that several large companies were founded by immigrants, ...but did you notice that he didn't say they were "illegal immigrants."
There's a simple solution to this problem: For those that are pro-illegal immigration, YOU AGREE TO PAY FOR IT! The IRS can place a check-box on your tax return where you indicate your willingness to pay for the costs of illegal immigration and agree to move 5 to 10 of them into your home. Every time the costs increase, your disposable income will decrease in direct response to the changes. All those opposed to illegal immigration will not have to pay a dime more because they don't support the idea and want the law enforced. Everyone should be happy with this, ....except perhaps the pro-illegals who support the idea but want everyone else but them to shoulder the burden. If you want it, then step up, open your wallet and pay for it.