Obama news conference: Where next on immigration reform?

The next question is on immigration reform and whether the president will reach out to Sen. John McCain, an advocate of immigration reform.

President Obama says he would “love to partner” with McCain and others on what is going to be “a critical issue.”

The current system, he said, “is putting a strain on border communities who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers, and it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time they are depressing U.S. wages.”

Obama says he hopes to convene a “working group to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped.” In the meantime, he says, he is taking administrative steps in order to persuade the American people that, should an immigration reform law be crafted, the people will believe it can really be executed.

To that end, he says, his secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, is working on strengthening border security. On the other hand, he adds, attention must be paid to the employers who are essentially “inviting workers in.” He does plan to have something in place this year, he says, and acknowledges his full plate: “I have been accused of doing too much,” he says. “We are moving full steam ahead on all fronts.”

-- Robin Abcarian

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Photo: Matthew Cavanaugh / EPA (Obama responds to a question from the news media during a press conference on his 100th Day in Office from the East Room of the White House.)

Comments

[Homer Simpson]

Obama says he hopes to convene a “working group to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might work to give 20+ million illegal aliens legal voting status for the DemocRAT party.”

[Wandagb]

Obama "partnering" with McCain to destroy America by endless, mass illegal immigration. Just what we need.

"Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." - Adam Smith, economist and ethicist

Everything you need to know about immigration and what to do about it humorously told.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBw1nUlf38I

(Roy Beck and NumbersUSA are the "gumball" heroes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuOfQ

[takn]

If he was serious about accountability, he would have made the E-verify system mandatory and permanent for every employer in this country ! His words ring hollow w/ the thousands of American citizens who are STILL competing w/ illegals for all these so-called "stimulus" jobs.

Does he believe we're all chumps? "Partnering" means nothing more than figuring out which corporate heads need their backs scratched to get the GOP to vote along w/ them for amnesty! The whole thing makes me SICK !

[Randolph Phillips]

Part of the Globalization plan was not only for the free movement of industry and jobs, but also people. That's why corporate america supports open borders.

Obama wants the legalization of the 20,000,000 illegals now here and fast track to voting by his reelection in 2012.

It was the Bush-McCain-Kennedy plan, abd will swell the population of the country, end the white european descent majority, reduce the nation to thrid world status, and guarantee national control by the Democratic Party.