Obama: ‘The time is now’ for immigration reform
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) – President Barack Obama said Tuesday that long-sought reforms to a “broken” immigration system were within America’s grasp, seeking to lock in rare momentum towards a major cross-party compromise.
Obama laid out principles on the divisive issue which would nudge 11 million illegal immigrants slowly towards citizenship within stronger US borders and let prized foreign students stay on after graduation to boost the US economy.
He also praised a bipartisan group of senators who on Monday unveiled their own guidelines for legislation on an issue that would represent a major legacy achievement for Obama at the start of his final White House term.
Obama points to the crowd after delivering remarks on immigration reform in Las Vegas. AFP
“The question now is simple. Do we have the resolve as a people, as a country, as a government, to finally put this issue behind us? I believe that we do,” Obama said during a lightning stop in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I believe we are finally at a moment where comprehensive reform is within our grasp,” Obama said, at a point in history when Republicans want to thwart Democratic primacy among Hispanic voters, for whom immigration is a key issue.
“Now is the time. Now is the time. Now is the time,” Obama said. The president sought to harness signs of unusual consensus in sharply divided Washington over immigration reform, six years after the last attempt to overhaul the system ended in a spectacular and politically toxic failure.
The president noted that his plan, first unveiled in detail in 2011, covered similar ground as the Senate approach.
Both plans would broadly:
Offer illegal immigrants a long path to permanent residency and citizenship, requiring them to pay back taxes, learn English, have background checks and demonstrate familiarity with US culture.
Include efforts to strengthen US borders and visa systems and speed a path out of limbo by young people brought to the country illegally by their parents.
Improve worker verification systems that deter illegal immigration and dismantle barriers to highly skilled foreign workers entering America to catalyse future economic growth.
But there are some major and politically problematic differences:
The Senate plan makes the scheme offering a route to citizenship contingent on the completion of certain enforcement measures. Obama’s would not.
The president’s plan also treats same sex couples the same as straight ones, ie. a US citizen’s same sex partner would have the same rights to come to America as another person’s straight spouse.
The differences are a possible irritant as the White House and Republicans seek a compromise, both sides hope, by later this year.
One prominent Republican, rising star Marco Rubio – who may run for president in 2016 – warned Tuesday that he would not back any bill that did not include a “trigger mechanism” for enforcement.
“Without such triggers in place, enforcement systems will never be implemented and we will be back in just a few years dealing with millions of new undocumented people in our country,” Rubio said.
Republicans are sensitive to any claims by their conservative base voters that the path to citizenship equates in any way to “amnesty,” an explosive charge which contributed to the failure of immigration reform in 2007.
