CBS (Face the Nation)
January 13, 2013
SCHIEFFER: Joining us now the mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being here. You are going to make a big speech here in Washington tomorrow on immigration, the "New York Times" reports this morning. The White House is planning a big push on immigration. Give us an out line of what you're thinking about here.
VILLARAIGOSA: The time is now. We can't wait another political season to pass comprehensive immigration reform. This isn't just a moral, it's an economic imperative. If we bring these people, 11 million people from out of the dark and into the light, it's about a $1.5 trillion impact to the U.S. economy. The dreamers alone, a $329 billion impact. We can't do this piecemeal and we can't have second class citizenship. This has to be a pathway to full citizenship.
SCHIEFFER: What do you want to see happen? And let me also ask you, do you have any -- did you get an advance peak at what the president's going to present here?
VILLARAIGOSA: I did get to talk to them a bit, but I'll let him make that presentation. I talked to the White House a bit.
SCHIEFFER: What do you want to see happen?
VILLARAIGOSA: Well, what I just outlined.
SCHIEFFER: Yeah, but I mean, what are the most important things, a path the citizenship, but how do you get that?
VILLARAIGOSA: Well, you get it, obviously you have to have that pathway that allows folks to become full citizens, the -- make sure that you get at the end of the line, that you pay your taxes, that you're not, that you have a background check but in the end we've got to make sure that these people have a pathway to full citizenship. I think that's very, very important. You can't do this in a piecemeal way and importantly I think it's got to be bipartisan. It won't be pass muster if it's not. And I'm heartened to see that Senator McCain and others I think there are about eight in the senate that have been working together and talking about comprehensive immigration reform, not just a piecemeal approach.
SCHIEFFER: Who are the first people that ought of get citizenship? You're talking about the kids or who?
VILLARAIGOSA: Well, I think we need to make sure that 11 million people, after the background check, after they get at the end of the line -- obviously the people who become citizens first are the people who have been in line, after they get out of the line, after they have done everything to make sure that they're -- you know, they've had a full background check, paid their back taxes. We've got to do this in a way that gives all of these people an opportunity to be full citizens of the United States of America.
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