The White House released a statement today Jan. 25, 2013, saying that President Obama will deliver his plans for comprehensive immigration reforms in Las Vegas, Nevada, next Tuesday.
The White House said the president's proposal would call for legislation to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Obama held a strategy session today with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, telling the lawmakers that reform efforts would be "a top priority" in his second term.
"The President was pleased to hear from CHC members and noted that they share the same vision, including that any legislation must include a path to earned citizenship," the White House statement said. "The President further noted that there is no excuse for stalling or delay."
Among those in attendance at Friday's White House meeting with Obama were Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), House Democratic Caucus Chair Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL).
Rep. Becerra said that President Obama is “determined to fix our long broken immigration system.”
"After today’s meeting, it’s clear that President Obama is determined to fix our long broken immigration system," Becerra said in a statement following the meeting. "The President expressed a great sense of urgency and that comprehensive immigration reform, including an earned path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is his top legislative priority."
Rep. Gutierrez released a statement saying that “immigration reform cannot wait”.
"Immigrants need action now and immigration reform cannot wait," Gutierrez said in a statement after the White House meeting. "We have a unique opportunity to finally put our government on the side of hard-working immigrants. We all need to work together, the President and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, to get something done right away."
Shortly after President Obama's reelection, he made a promise to make immigration reform a top priority in his second term.
"I think we have talked about it long enough," Obama said during an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" in December. "We know how we can fix it. We can do it in a comprehensive way that the American people support. That's something we should get done."
Comprehensive immigration reforms use to have bipartisan support in congress just a few years ago when George W. Bush was President, but with the Republicans being led by the right wing extremists within their party, that bipartisan support may no longer exist.
And after the trouncing the Republicans received from minority groups this past election, Republicans could help their party by showing support for reforms if they can drown out the voices of the extremists within the Republican Party.
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