White House Meets with Congress, Optimistic that Reform Will Move Forward this Year

America's Voice Blog

Posted 06/26/09 at 06:42pm

mtg Yesterday, the White House hosted a meeting of bipartisan lawmakers from both chambers of Congress to begin the conversation of how to move immigration reform forward this year.

Kos, founder of the progressive blog Daily Kos, reports in "Immigration reform headed for passage this year:"

Both the White House and Senate Democratic leadership have reiterated that they expect to pass meaningful immigration reform this year or early next year.

Think Progress devotes an entire Progress Report to immigration reform today, with the headline: Time For The 'Heavy Lifting' To Begin:

At a bipartisan meeting with congressional lawmakers yesterday, President Obama pledged "that he would push for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration system by early next year." "It's going to require some heavy lifting," Obama said. "It's going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policymaking over short-term politics. That's what I'm committed to doing as president."

A video from the WhiteHouse.gov blog spells out some key elements of the plan. Their blog post, Working Together for Immigration Reform, reports:

While Congressional leaders are working to tackle the complexities of immigration reform, the Administration has already taken steps to improve the system. The FBI has cleared much of the backlog of immigration background checks, the Department of Homeland Security is speeding up citizenship petitions and in conjunction with the Department of Labor, they are working to crack down on employers who are exploiting illegal workers. \

Here are some activists' reactions to the that meeting during a telephonic press conference this morning:

"There can be no doubt that the conditions for significant movement on immigration reform this year have become more favorable," stated Simon Rosenberg, President and Founder of NDN. "An overwhelming majority of Americans want action taken to fix the broken immigration system now and support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislative approach. While the road to passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform will not be an easy one, with strong leadership, progress this year is within Washington's grasp."

America's Voice Executive Director, Frank Sharry, responded:

These results reflect what we have known for years - the American people support immigration reform, and want Congress to provide smart solutions to tough problems. While many in the political class continue to look in the rearview mirror and fail to grasp the policy and political realities that are bringing immigration reform to the fore, the President and Congressional leaders understand the power behind reform. Yesterday, they took a giant step towards addressing and solving a problem calling out for courageous and deliberative action.

Josh Hoyt, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), put things in perspective:

This debate is about our democracy living up to its best values of inclusion. As the movement towards immigration reform gains momentum, we are more unified than ever in our efforts to get this urgent issue resolved. Our families and our communities can't wait any longer.

Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) summed things up:

We believe that action on this issue will allow our elected leaders to send a message than when millions of people get involved in the political process, it means something. It is clear that action on comprehensive immigration reform is morally imperative, urgently needed, and politically smart. We have the Latino community, the fastest growing segment of the electorate, deeply engaged, and America as a whole hungry for solutions. Inaction is not an option.

Recent polling has clearly shown that Latino voters believe that immigration is a very important issue (82 percent), and 72 percent expect President Obama to keep his promise to move an immigration bill in Congress during his first year in office. As Kos cites:

As noted previously, the issue receives dominant popular support.

One version of immigration reform that people have discussed would take a comprehensive approach. It would secure the border, crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and require illegal immigrants to register for legal immigration status, pay back taxes, and learn English in order to be eligible for U.S. citizenship. Would you ... Congress passing this proposal?
Total Support 86
Strongly support 58
Somewhat support 28
Total Oppose 14
Somewhat oppose 6
Strongly oppose 7

With the White House now taking clear leadership, there's no reason we can't get real immigration reform moving this year. As Clarissa Martinez stated eloquently, "Inaction is not an option."