On Thursday, President Obama met with members of Congress to discuss Immigration Reform. Some 30 influential lawmakers from both parties and both chambers attended, and after the meeting, the president released a statement saying: “My administration is fully behind an effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.”The President made no promises about timing, but he made very clear that it’s time to get to work – “not put it off until a year, two years, three, five years from now, but to start working on this thing right now.”
Additionally, Sen. John McCain led Republicans in voicing strong support for what Business needs in a bill: an ample pipeline for the foreign workers we as a nation will need in the future to grow the economy to enter the country legally. After the meeting, McCain told reporters: the reforms also must include a temporary worker program for agricultural and high-tech industries that rely on non-U.S. citizen labor. "I can't support any proposal that doesn't have a legal temporary worker program and I would expect the president of the United States to put his influence on the unions in order to change their position," McCain added.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer told reporters after the White House meeting that Obama had set a goal of passing legislation by the end of this year or early next year. The President said, "It's going to require some heavy lifting. It's going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policymaking over short-term politics."
In the meantime, President Obama asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to meet regularly with lawmakers to systematically work through a number of controversial issues, such as how to handle the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States and how to prevent future illegal immigration.
References:
Obama pledges push this year for immigration reform
Obama Introduces First Steps To Immigration Reform
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9 comments:
Here's what one black man thinks of comprehensive immigration reform
Az,
Agreed. However, there are plenty of people who have tried to go through the system and are in limbo in immigration court. I posted several articles about this in the past, one specifically about the broken immigration courts in Houston.
Remember, over 40% are Visa overstays.
Ultima,
Terry Anderson from Glenn Spencer's American Border Patrol?
Some representative!
Well I don't know anything about Anderson except that he was born and raised in South Central LA and seems to know what he is talking about regarding how the blacks have been eased out of their homes in that area and out of the projects built for them. He has some interesting comments to make about LA and how the blacks and the whites have been eased out of the construction business in LA and those sections of the metro area that are basically off limits to blacks, a number of whom have been assassinated in Canoga Park. Perhaps this is another racist hate crime that should be reported and investigated on your blog.
It appears from Anderson's rabble-rousing comments that there is much truth in the term "Mexifornia". This story is also some fertile ground for El Duque's Raciality site. We'll see to what extent all of his concern about racism and hate-based violence is a one way street.
I think the idea of broken immigration courts in Houston are the last line of defense. There is no reason why the courts or the immigration service should be funded to support immigration instead of protecting America against the ravages of overpopulation, great pollution, joblessness, etc. That's what our government should be doing for us.
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices, 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Con gress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
cont'd
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel News paper.
Last line of defense? Hardly.
Consider these broken processes from the Bush Admininstration:
1. Inhumane Detention Centers, particularly those incarcerating children
2. ICE Raids - Cattle Barn injustice - remember Agriprocessors in Postville
3. The application process, primarily paper forms downloaded from the internet snail mailed to unmanned offices. The backlog is horrendous.
4. The courts process (as mentioned) with years of backlogged cases to be heard.
5. The 287(g) abuses as has been testified in Congress, including racial profiling abuses by masked goons/volunteers.
6. Sheriff Arpaio's abuses, including his parading detainees through the streets of Maricopa county, racial profiling abuses, terrorizing children during Confirmation Mass, etc. etc. etc.
7. Targetting workers vs criminal gangs
I could go on and on with this list of broken processes that need reform.
The good news is our President Obama has already begun reform of some of them including targetting drug cartels vs workers.
I look forward to the use of automation and manned offices to process the forms and also clear up the courts backlog. These are two steps that require immediate attention.
Above all, the racial profiling (ala arpaio & 287g programs) must stop.
I am hoping that the criminal prosecution of those committing Hate Crimes will help stop the violence against minorities and impacted groups.
Dee -
Thank you for blogging about Obama's initiative on Immigration Reform.
I want to inform you about our latest immigration reform efforts here at NAM because they might be of interest to you. For the first time, New America Media is asking ethnic media and immigrant right bloggers to take a collective editorial stand on an issue that directly impacts the lives of millions of our audiences: immigration reform. Imagine using our collective strength to send a message to Congress and White House...
Would you run this editorial on this blog? More than 200 media outlets across the nation -and counting- are running the editorial this week! Join us in bringing our collective voice to national attention.
You can access the link here, too: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=cdd5e4e8a83a609d5eb78097203a93cb
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Rupa Dev
New America Media
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