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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Obama Plans Immigration Speech


Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
January 24, 2013

President Barack Obama will travel to Las Vegas next week for a speech that could serve as the starter's gun for a drive to overhaul immigration laws.

Mr. Obama has said that overhauling national immigration policy is one of his top priorities for 2013, and he has laid out what he hopes to see in the legislation. But the speech, set for Tuesday, is meant to "help prod the process along," said one of the people familiar with his plans.

"He is using the megaphone that he has to say, 'You guys need to act on this,'" the person said. A second person confirmed Mr. Obama's plans.

A White House official said Mr. Obama would travel to Las Vegas, but wouldn't discuss the topic of the president's remarks.

The speech comes as a group of eight senators working on immigration legislation nears a self-imposed February deadline for putting out principles for a bill. The group hopes to have legislative language by March and to pass a bill through the Senate by August.

The process is expected to move more slowly in the House, where some Republicans have expressed interest in similar legislation and others are vocally opposed.

The senators' plan is expected to include the same elements that Mr. Obama has long supported: stepped-up border security, a better system that employers use to verify that potential hires are in the U.S. legally, more visas for high-tech workers, a temporary-worker program for lower-skilled workers and a path to citizenship for some 11 million people now in the U.S. illegally.

It was unclear how specific Mr. Obama would be next week about what elements he wants in an immigration bill. During his first term, he laid out his principles publicly, though it has been some time since the president spoke about them in detail.

The White House also has prepared legislative language, and some have urged that the president send it to Capitol Hill as a way of moving the legislative process forward. But others argue that putting specific legislation forward could derail the process, potentially causing political problems for some Republicans involved who want distance between their work and the White House.

One person familiar with events said the White House has told allies that the purpose of the speech is to show that Mr. Obama is engaged in the issue and not just sitting back, waiting for Congress to act.

"He wants to try and influence the process and move it forward," said Angela Kelley, an immigration expert at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. "He wants to nudge this along."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that Mr. Obama wanted to work with people from both parties to move legislation to his desk.

"I think you can expect him to be true to his word, which is to take up this issue very early in his second term," he said.

He said the White House put out details of what the president would like to see in a bill long ago. "He does absolutely believe that we need to do this in a comprehensive way," Mr. Carney said of the president.

Many, though not all, Democrats have supported a multi-pronged immigration bill, but other issues took precedence. Before the November election there was little support or urgency among Republican lawmakers for a broad immigration bill. But after Mr. Obama won reelection with overwhelming support from Hispanics, many Republicans said they would support the effort, giving it new life in Congress.

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