http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09immig.html?_r=1&hp

Obama to Push Immigration Reform Bill Despite Risks

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By JULIA PRESTON
Published: April 8, 2009

While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Mr. Obama will frame the new effort — likely to rouse passions on all sides of the highly divisive issue — as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House.

Mr. Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May, administration officials said, and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.

Some White House officials said that immigration would not take precedence over the health care and energy proposals that Mr. Obama has identified as priorities. But the timetable is consistent with pledges Mr. Obama made to Hispanic groups in last year’s campaign.

He said then that comprehensive immigration legislation, including a plan to make legal status possible for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, would be a priority in his first year in office. Latino voters turned out strongly for Mr. Obama in the election.

“He intends to start the debate this year,” Ms. Muñoz said.

But with the economy seriously ailing, advocates on different sides of the debate said that immigration could become a polarizing issue for Mr. Obama in a year when he has many other major battles to fight.

Opponents, mainly Republicans, say they will seek to mobilize popular outrage against any effort to legalize unauthorized immigrant workers while so many Americans are out of jobs.

Democratic legislative aides said that opening a full-fledged debate this year on immigration, particularly with health care as a looming priority, could weigh down the president’s domestic agenda.

Debate is still under way among administration officials about the precise timing and strategy. For example, it is unclear who will take up the Obama initiative in Congress.

No serious legislative talks on the issue are expected until after some of Mr. Obama’s other priorities have been debated, Congressional aides said.

Just last month, Mr. Obama openly recognized that immigration is a potential minefield.

"I know this is an emotional issue; I know it’s a controversial issue,” he told an audience at a town meeting on March 18 in Costa Mesa, Calif. “I know that the people get real riled up politically about this."

But, he said, immigrants who are long-time residents but lack legal status “have to have some mechanism over time to get out of the shadows.”

The White House is calculating that public support for fixing the immigration system, which is widely acknowledged to be broken, will outweigh opposition from voters who argue that immigrants take jobs from Americans. A groundswell among voters opposed to legal status for illegal immigrants led to the defeat in 2007 of a bipartisan immigration bill that was strongly supported by President George W. Bush.

Administration officials said that Mr. Obama’s plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here. Despite the deep recession, there is no evidence of any wholesale exodus of illegal immigrant workers, independent studies of census data show.

Opponents of legalization legislation were incredulous at the idea that Mr. Obama would take on immigration when economic pain for Americans is so widespread.

“It just doesn’t seem rational that any political leader would say, let’s give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. Mr. Beck predicted that Mr. Obama would face “an explosion” if he proceeded this year.

“It’s going to be, ‘You’re letting them keep that job, when I could have that job,’ ” he said.

In broad outlines, officials said, the Obama administration favors legislation that would bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by recognizing that they violated the law, and imposing fines and other penalties to fit the offense. The legislation would seek to prevent future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers.

But administration officials emphasized that many details remained to be debated.

Opponents of a legalization effort said that if the Obama administration maintained the enforcement pressure initiated by Mr. Bush, the recession would force many illegal immigrants to return home. Dan Stein, the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said it would be “politically disastrous” for Mr. Obama to begin an immigration initiative at this time.

Anticipating opposition, Mr. Obama has sought to shift some of the political burden to advocates for immigrants, by encouraging them to build support among voters for when his proposal goes to Congress.

That is why Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Mr. Obama’s hometown, Chicago, has been on the road most weekends since last December, traveling far outside his district to meetings in Hispanic churches, hoping to generate something like a civil rights movement in favor of broad immigration legislation.

Mr. Gutierrez was in Philadelphia on Saturday at the Iglesia Internacional, a big Hispanic evangelical church in a former warehouse, the 17th meeting in a tour that has included cities as far flung as Providence, R.I.; Atlanta; Miami; and San Francisco. Greeted with cheers and amens by a full house of about 350 people, Mr. Gutierrez, shifting fluidly between Spanish and English, called for immigration policies to preserve family unity, the strategic theme of his campaign.

At each meeting, speakers from the community, mainly citizens, tell stories of loved ones who were deported or of delays and setbacks in the immigration system. Illegal immigrants have not been invited to speak.

Mr. Gutierrez’s meetings have all been held in churches, both evangelical and Roman Catholic, with clergy members from various denominations, including in several places Muslim imams. At one meeting in Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, officiated.

One speaker on Saturday, Jill Flores, said that her husband, Felix, an immigrant from Mexico who crossed the border illegally, had applied for legal status five years ago but had not been able to gain it even though she is an American citizen, as are their two children. Now, Ms. Flores said, she fears that her husband will have to leave for Mexico and will not be permitted to return for many years.

In an interview, Mr. Gutierrez rejected the idea that the timing is bad for an immigration debate. “There is never a wrong time for us,” he said. “Families are being divided and destroyed, and they need help now.”

Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.


I started a thread some time ago about the changes in the SCHIP program. This is why that program was changed. I think its time to sharpen the pitchforks.

To be honest, there is one thing I will never take part in. There's a reason why there has been so much preperation by Government over the last 30 years or so for Martial Law, ramped up heavily over the last 10. They want us to riot, those in control are counting on Americans not being able to control themselves from violence.

The most succesful protests are those that remain nonviolent, even in the face of extremely horrific tyranny.

Martin Luther King said "Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." He said this on December 11, 1964.

He also said "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

Both of these things are true.

Those in power, using Obama as their puppet, are doing everything they can to end this country, complete with total influx of those who hold no allegiance to our Constitution. Now I see this as bad for a handful of reasons, the first of which involves the Drug cartels corruption of their Military causing Mexican troops to be involved in incursions onto our soil as escorts for the drug and human traffickers. Now, if a war were to start with Mexico over this, would we not already be invaded by enough illegal immigrants that you would be looking at an all out guerilla war in our own streets, with people that were supposed to be our neighbors? Before you pooh on that idea I want you to consider how many mexican flags you see on homes, cars and t-shirts and then tell me to which country those folks are going to hold their allegiance to?

¡Hola!

On behalf of myself and InvictusV (who I'm sure remembers that his grandparents came to America as poor immigrants) I would like to welcome the 12 million new citizens to the United States of America... May all of you have success in all of your endeavors.

-Mahan

Actually My family came here in 1732 and were rich landowners looking to take advantage of red skinned peoples. Nice try though.

Haha!

And I'm sure your family did take advantage of the natives! But seriously, rich or poor, it matters not. What matters is that unless we are native Americans, we all came here at one point or another (you in 1732, and me in 1986) and so the only fair and civilized thing to do is to welcome all new immigrants and to wish them success and prosperity in the land of the free... and the same opportunities as your great great grnadparents had... except minus the slave owning...!

I would agree, when they do it the way our laws dictate, it's when they get to unfairly jump in line of people who have worked hard, studied the Naturalization test and jumped through all the hoops to become a Citizen, then I have to take issue.

Now, to be fair, I think that the illegals have become a scapegoat, due to the controlled demolition of our economy. So on that regard, I don't think finger pointing at them is fair, but I would say, illegal immigration is a symptom, while this Globalism and those who run and push for it are the disease.

Hola new citizens!

You are right... My family and I came here legally and became U.S. citizens by jumpin' through a bunch of hoops... So yeah, I have some issues with illegals too.
On the other hand, I work at a hotel (won't mention the name due to the fact that I would like to continue working there) and we hire illegals as maids... mostly from Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, El Salvador, ... and why is that? Those are the only ones that apply! Americans, (blacks, whites, hispanics) in our town anyways, I'm not speaking nationwide, they would rather pop out a baby or two, or three, or four and live on welfare than to do a hard back breaking work of cleaning 20 rooms in 8 hours. So the argument that they come here and take our jobs away is simply NOT true...!

Hey Talldub,

You guys get any immigrants in your country besides the intrusive Brits?!!!

I'm not in a postition to argue that point that blacks and whites would rather live on welfare, its not something I've studied nor have experience with, but I would agree to the point that I've met alot of illegals who have absolutely no fear of doing a hard days work, but I've also seen illegals who find ways around the law to get themselves some of that government dime as well. Like where I'm living, they just battled to give illegals free college in the state legislature.


I would speculate, also, that not all the jobs going to illegals are the jobs that Americans supposedly won't do, I know for a fact there are alot of business' such as Slaughterhouses, many different types of manufacturing, that intentionally avoid hiring americans in favor for the illegals, because they can get away with paying them less than fair wages. All you have to do to prove this is take a solid look at the INS raids that were done at suspected businesses, alot of these places flat had to shut down, because they lost too many workers to continue their productivity.

I say "hola" to the immigrants that work hard to provide for their families and for themselves.

I say "hola" to those immigrants who try to learn the English language to improve themselves to go to school and find better waged jobs, create businesses, or invent products that help this country.

I say "hola" to those immigrants regardless where they are from in the world that try to adapt to a lifestyle that doesn't land them in a jail, commit crime, or harm others.


Hola and welcome to America!

This is another issue along with gay marriage that I wish we would settle once and for all so it is no longer used to insite violence and to gain votes for or against.

I am with Smiless on this one.

immigration and illegally entering the USA are two different things entirely!

the person/family that comes into this country illegally do not pay taxes, and in turn, the employers that hire them do not pay taxes on the money they pay the illegals either.

The illegal person/family use health care dollars up at an astounding rate as they enter into a health care facility emergency situation and have to be treated...they do not pay for health care. (for the most part)

The illegal person/family use the food banks and other facilities meant to help the poor people of the USA. (for the most part)

The illegal person/family gives birth to a child in the USA and then that child is taken care of off of the welfare system that tax paying people (both immigrants and citizens) pay for. (for the most part)

They take from the country and they do not contribute. (for the most part)

I think the two terms get confused...and when there have to be mandated water stations and solar powered cell phones in the desert for people who are coming into the USA without "checking" in at the border...then those people are NOT immigrants, they are NOT entering into our country LEGALLY!

I have always found it interesting that the very term...ILLEGAL aliens...does not speak for itself.

so, I for one do NOT welcome the people who come into our country ILLEGALLY...

That's in a perfect world.
Prepare to be forced to learn Spanish.
That estimation is 12 to 18 million and many I know, an I'm only 150 miles from the border towns, have no intention of learning English. They complain at the schools about their kids being forced to learn English. Stating, when they finish school, they won't need it.
Due to a natural disaster at my house, I am moving back to Del Rio, a border town.
With what i make off my property, I am moving on into Mexico and opening a couple hamburger joints. I'll supervise 2 employees per joint, pay them each $15.00 a day, 3 days a week and live like a king. BTW, $15.00 is more than the Mexican Gov. allows, by their Law. If I get busted,I go to jail.
Just wait, next thing to go will be minimum wage and many will be lucky to find a job paying $20.00 to $30.00 a day. Best of luck to all ya'll. You gonna' need it.
Screw this insanity going on here.
Y si, yo hablo muy bien el Espaniol. No tengo ni un problema por comunicar me con la jente.
Que tienes la suerte buena!

Hola' new citizens. Welcome and make good your fortune. Be well.

My family on my dads side came here from Germany....my grandparents.
My moms side came here from..well...here.As well as from Germany. Their land was stolen and they died for it. Treated like animals by the white man.

If you are not American Indian...you are an immigrant.

Kat

Congratulations to the Corporations for their continuing effort to to drive down the pay scale.

I'll fax this idea to the White House to see if they can use it for Obama's change.

Let me read a possible future for those who work at the retail conglomerates. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Sam's,etc.

Throw away the minimum wage scale. It's obsolete.
Supply and demand.
12 to 20 million new legal residents, all competing for jobs along with the millions of unemployed Americans and the Immigrants who did it the Lawful way. They will be given the opportunity to bid how much they will be willing to work for. If they bid under what you are making, you've just been replaced.
Being Bi-lingual will be mandatory.
Prepare to get used to living a lot more humbly. As in, third-worldly.
Think it's far-fetched?

are you kidding me??????????

Hola new citizens!

No one is better than you, and you're no better than anyone else.
Everyone either come here as an immigrant, or didn't have a choice in the matter.

Welcome!

Get a man to believe implausible things and you can get him to commit unspeakable acts.

------ Voltaire

Just faxed it off.
I'll let ya'll know what response I get back, if any.