Posted on 05/09/2011 3:10:49 PM PDT by jazusamo
Washington (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama’s commitment to providing some legal status for illegal aliens is reflected in the time he has spent focusing on the country’s immigration laws in recent weeks, the White House said one day before the president is set to deliver a national address on immigration from El Paso, Texas.
In recent weeks, Obama met with current and former elected officials, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities – all whom agreed with his position on the matter – to promote comprehensive immigration reform.
Proponents call the proposal a “pathway to citizenship” for the roughly 12 million illegal aliens in the country; critics call it “amnesty.”
“It will reflect his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. “We weren’t able to achieve it in the first part of the president’s term but it remains a priority of the president, even though it’s hard. He takes on hard things because he believes they’re important to get done. Hard things often need bipartisan support.”
“One thing I would note,” Carney continued, “is there was bipartisan support at the highest levels of the Republican Party – including the president, George W. Bush, including Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s nominee in 2008.”
The proposal has even less support today, however, with McCain and other Republicans having largely reversed themselves on the issue.
Obama is likely less concerned about pushing the proposal than about appealing to a political base in the lead up to his 2012 reelection campaign, says Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, a pro-border enforcement group.
“If Bush couldn’t get an amnesty bill passed, any bipartisan consensus for an amnesty bill now is not possible,” Dane told CNSNews.com.
Dane wondered why the president has only talked about the matter with people who already agree with him.
“Where are the true stakeholders in immigration policy – the American people?” he asked. “They will pay the cost for immigration policy, but they don’t have a seat at the table with the far-left, big business and special interests.”
Obama will visit El Paso Tuesday to deliver remarks about immigration reform, before traveling to Austin for two fundraising events for the Democratic National Committee.
El Paso is one of nine Border Patrol sectors along the almost 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, running from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean. Located directly across from the Mexican city of Juarez, it has been among the more dangerous border areas in recent years.
Carney declined to say whether Obama would raise any new aspects during the visit. He did indicate that “border security” would be on the agenda – but “not border security alone.”
“The number of border agents today is double what it was in 2004,” he said. “We’ve got triple the number of intelligence analysts working the boarder. We’ve deployed unmanned aerial vehicles that now patrol the border from Texas to California. We are screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments to seize guns and money going south, even as we go after drugs coming north.”
Carney also stressed the economic impact of immigration.
“It is simply foolish as a matter of policy when we think about global competition, economic competition that we face in the 21st Century, to educate some of the smartest, most creative entrepreneurial young people from around the world in our universities, the finest in the world, and then not let them stay and start businesses to launch startups, to create jobs in America,” he said.
“[New York] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg noted this fact – in recent years over 25 percent of high tech startups in the United States were founded by immigrants. We’ve been deporting 50,000 jobs.”
DOA!
Gaffer they don’t even have to work. If they are elderly they will simply get SSI. No joke.
Well said, and you’re exactly right.
Other countries best and brightest come here legally through our legal process.
Thanks, AM.
Ping!
Don’t we have enough “best and brightest” Americans?
“Quite the contrary, they are the poor, illiterate dregs of society and they are a drag on ours no matter how many motel rooms need cleaning”
You are exactly right. Most Mexicans have less than 6 years of education. They can barely read and write in Spanish.
Political posturing for the Hispanic vote. It also keeps the corporate media types happy who seem to all think amnesty is a great idea. This thing is dead on arrival. They couldn’t ram it through when they had complete control (RINO’s in mid 90’s, Progressives in 2008). Could you imagine the political fallout? For every vote they would pick up it would be canceled out by irate jobless citizens.
Hollywood Celebrities....those that lie for a living...how appropriate.
This punk pos Erkel Mugabe has got to go....come on 2012.
“Don’t we have enough “best and brightest” Americans?”
I just finished reading a great article on that and it seems we lack postgraduate study in tough fields like math and science.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=571523&p=1
You are right.
This agenda will be implemented via incrementalism... The "Dream Act", the de facto amnesty by failure to deport illegal aliens, the creation of scholarships for illegal aliens, state tuition for illegal aliens, etc.
Eventually, the illegal aliens will marry US citizens, or their US-born children will sponsor them
I seriously hope you’re right and have a hunch you are but if not, it’s really scary.
He is an evil bastard.
Amen to that!
Amnesty on the way via executive order?
I’m sure the turkey would do it by EO if he thought he could get away with it.
I'm no fan of McCain, but facts are facts. McCain's margin of victory over Hayworth was 24 points (56.2% to 32.1%). That's a whoopin'.
Since it was announced today that he would not be able to get amnesty before the next election I am extremely suspicious.
He lies about everything.
And he went up against JD in the 2010 primary, not 2008.
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