America’s Voice
Immigration Solutions Now

Posted 04/17/09 at 04:39pm

President Calls for End to Politics as Usual, Solutions on Immigration

While in Mexico City today, President Obama reiterated the need for a new immigration debate focused on solutions, rather than more divisive “politics as usual.” 

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (pictured here) echoed the President’s comments, also saying that any immigration reform legislation will need to have supporters from both parties and that the President is committed to addressing immigration, despite its divisive past:

MR. GIBBS:  Right.  I'd repeat also what I said, I think either -- I think it was last week, off of reports about it, that this is a process that will likely start and has started this year.  But I think we're under no illusions that this is an issue that will get solved or finished this year

Q    I wanted to ask you about immigration again.  Yesterday some of the anti-tax rallies had three strong anti-immigrant (inaudible).  And I just wondered if there was anything firm about the tone of the demonstrations (inaudible) White House, particularly  worried that taking up such a divisive issue is counter-productive --

MR. GIBBS:  Well, I think -- and I've obviously talked about this, and I think the President has, too -- this is not an -- we know this is not an easy issue.  I think he spoke in some ways about that today.  But I think the President also understands that a number of the issues that he deals with, in some way, shape or form, are divisive.  But that doesn't alleviate our obligations to deal with them.

I think we understand that in order to get immigration reform through Congress and to the President's desk, it's going to take a healthy bipartisan majority.  It's going to take votes from both sides of the aisle.  And I don't anticipate that it will happen until there is some agreement to that.

While being candid that immigration reform won’t come easy, or even be fully resolved this year, Gibbs' argument is in line with recent statements by the President that point toward the White House taking up immigration reform this year. If there was any doubt that the politics of immigration have shifted, one need only look to the recent front-page New York Times articles on pending immigration reform.

It's clear that the political stakes of not passing a real reform are high and getting higher for both parties. The 2008 election was a game-changer. Democrats need to earn the confidence of Latino voters to win their support over the long term, and Republicans need to sue for peace, realizing that they can no longer afford to shun this fastest-growing group of the electorate. What's more, swing voters tend to view see immigration as one of those prime examples of the failure of Washington to lead. They continue to rank immigration reform as an important priority and favor a comprehensive reform over the proposed alternative: mass-deportation.

Basically, these voters are looking to their leaders in Washington to stop the bickering and move real reform forward. What conventional wisdom in Washington has ignored for so long is that what’s smart policy on the issue of immigration is also smart politics.

• By Jackie Mahendra
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• Signs that Reform is Coming
• Immigration '08

Obama thinks illegal immigration is bad for illegal immigrants and bad for the workers against whom they compete, and he supports giving illegal immigrants a path to legal residency.

_______________
Carol
<a >FSBO</a>

• 05-30-09 By Carol(MIAMI)

Obama thinks illegal immigration is bad for illegal immigrants and bad for the workers against whom they compete, and he supports giving illegal immigrants a path to legal residency.

_______________
Caroline
<a >FSBO</a>

• 05-30-09 By Carol(MIAMI)