Obama Tries to Bolster Support for Sweeping Immigration Overhaul

Washington Post

By David Nakamura

June 11, 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-tries-to-bolster-support-for-sweeping-immigration-overhaul/2013/06/11/53830786-d2a8-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html

 

President Obama, his second-term agenda bogged down amid political controversies and partisan gridlock, moved to bolster support for a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws, saying Congress “needs to act and the moment is now.”

 

After months of allowing a bipartisan Senate group to take the lead on a comprehensive bill, Obama chose to re-enter the debate with a speech in the East Room at a time when conservative Republicans have begun mounting a forceful opposition to the legislation.

 

The president acknowledged that the 867-page bill is a compromise in which neither Democrats nor Republicans would get everything they want. But he emphasized that the United States is a “nation of immigrants” and said the estimated 11 million immigrants who are now in the country illegally deserve a clear chance to become citizens.

 

“In the weeks to come, when opponents try to gin up fear and create division and spread the same old rumors and untruths . . . I want you to think about your own parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and all the men and women and children who came here,” Obama said, flanked by a coalition of business, faith and political leaders. “The notion that they came through Ellis Island and had all their papers right, had checked every box and followed all the procedures before getting on that boat . . . They were looking for a better life just like these families.”

 

Obama made his remarks as the full Senate was considering a motion to allow the immigration bill to advance to the chamber floor, potentially setting up weeks of debate on the most ambitious overhaul of immigration laws in nearly three decades.

 

Immigration proponents got a boost from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said that while the legislation has “serious flaws,” it was important for the chamber to allow it to come forward for debate and not block it through procedural maneuvers such as a filibuster.

 

“Doing nothing about the problem is not a solution. It’s an avoidance strategy,” McConnell said of the immigration system. “The longer we wait to have this debate, as difficult as it is, the harder it will be to solve the problem.”

 

The path forward for the bill will not be easy. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a key member of the bipartisan group that developed the legislation, was preparing to offer an amendment that would require illegal immigrants to learn English before earning the legal residence permit known as a green card.

 

Under the current proposal, immigrants must be enrolled in English classes to gain permanent legal status, but Rubio would require them to be able to read, write and speak the language. The bill says undocumented immigrants are eligible for green cards after 10 years and citizenship three years later if they pay fines and taxes and do not commit crimes.

 

“On the day we announced the principles that would shape the immigration bill, we made it clear that English proficiency would now be required for permanent residency for the first time in American history,” Rubio said in a statement. “This amendment ensures that will be the case.”

 

Rubio is considered a key member of the bipartisan group because of his appeal to conservatives, but he has said recently that the legislation will not earn enough Republican support without changes to strengthen border security.

 

That has left Democrats and immigration advocates fearful that opponents will add to the bill too many roadblocks for immigrants to earn citizenship.

 

As Obama spoke at the White House, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) took to the Senate floor to talk about his proposal to require 100 percent border security before any of the undocumented immigrants receive legal status.

 

Cornyn noted that Democrats and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) have described his bill as a “poison pill” amendment that would unravel the bipartisan immigration proposal.

 

“But I believe the opposite is in fact true,” Cornyn aid. “If we don’t guarantee results on border security, if we don’t guarantee to the American people that we actually are going to get serious about stopping the flow of people illegally crossing our northern, west or southwestern border, that is the real poison pill.”

 

Obama made clear that he expected the path to be straightforward for illegal immigrants.

 

“Yes, they broke the rules. They should wait their turn. They shouldn’t be let off easily,” he said. “But the vast majority of these individuals are not looking for trouble. They’re just wanting to provide for their families, contribute to their communities. They’re our neighbors; we know their kids.”

 

By re-entering the debate this week, the president is trying to exert his influence while not upsetting the delicate balance of a bipartisan group of eight senators that negotiated the deal.

 

Though Obama has made the immigration overhaul one of his top second-term priorities, his administration has played mostly a supportive role as the Senate group took the lead in drafting the legislation. White House aides have said the president recognizes that being too far in front on immigration could risk scaring off Republicans fearful of being tied too closely with the administration.

 

The president emphasized that his administration has invested heavily in border security measures, noting that attempted border crossings have fallen to historically low levels and that deportation rates are at record highs.

 

“Nobody’s taking border enforcement lightly,” he said.

 

But he chastised House Republicans for voting last week to de-fund his executive order last summer to defer deportations for otherwise law-abiding young people brought to the country illegally by their parents as children. The move by the GOP is unlikely to become law but was intended as a symbolic measure to express its displeasure that the president has gone around Congress to make the order.

 

“That’s not who we are,” Obama said of the GOP vote. “We owe it to Americans to do better.”

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