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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