Immigration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

President Barack Obama on Friday defended his decision to lift the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, saying it gave them an overdue "sense of hope." He challenged Republicans in Congress to join him finally on a big, broad fix of the U.S. immigration laws. Obama says his immigration policy offers 'sense of hope' (AP):

Obama tailored his re-election message of economic fairness and opportunity to his audience of Latino officials, addressing the group one day after Republican rival Mitt Romney did the same.

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The president said the nation needs ideas and policies that build up the middle class and "our current immigration system doesn't reflect those values." The system punishes immigrants who play by the rules and drives away entrepreneurs who can get an education in America but cannot stay here legally, he said.

Obama spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials near Orlando, his first speech to a Hispanic group since he decreed that many young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children would be exempted from deportation and granted work permits valid for two years

"It was the right thing to do," Obama declared.

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"For those who are saying Congress should be the one to fix this, absolutely," Obama said. "For those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion, absolutely. My door's been open for three-and-a-half years. They know where to find me."

Video below the fold.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

We already have seen demonstrated that the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, is the "Worst. Speaker. Ever." His "less-than-do-nothing" Tea-Publican Congress will be mocked by historians forever.

In a couple of related posts from Steve Benen, the insanity of putting Boehner in the leadership role is made clear. First, in 'Where's the president's plan?':

Complaining about President Obama's new immigration policy, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said yesterday the move will make it more "difficult" to pass a comprehensive reform package.Since reform efforts are impossible in this Congress anyway, it wasn't much of a complaint.

But Boehner added something else that struck me as interesting.

"Where's the president's immigration plan? Where does the president stand on this issue? Instead of campaigning all the time, maybe he ought to come back to Washington and go back to work," Boehner said.

It was an odd thing to say. If the House Speaker wants to know where President Obama's immigration plan is, he can type "President Obama's immigration plan" into the Google machine and, wouldn't you know it, one of the first results is President Obama's immigration plan. It's 29 pages long, written in easy-to-read language, and it's been online since May 2011.

Maybe Boehner isn't much of a reader? Well, Obama also delivered a detailed speech, outlining his immigration plan, last summer in Texas. The Speaker can watch the video.

When Boehner asks, "Where's the president's immigration plan? Where does the president stand on this issue?" it's disconcerting because it suggests the Speaker doesn't just disagree with Obama's approach; it suggests the Speaker doesn't understand that Obama's approach exists.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After avoiding directly answering any questions from the media about his position on immigration policy since last Friday when President Obama announced his "DREAM Act-Lite" policy, Willard "Mittens" Romney today finally stated his position at the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Romney spent months attacking his Republican primary rivals for being soft on illegal immigration. Today he called for loosening some immigration restrictions and reiterated a proposal for a path to legal status for some in the United States illegally who have served in the military. Romney calls for loosening immigration restrictions:

Romney said he wants to open the country to more legal foreign workers. But he said he did not plan on keeping in place the new order by President Obama halting deportations of hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants brought to the country when they were children.

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“Some people have asked if I will let stand the president’s executive order,” Romney added. “The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president’s temporary measure.”

Riiight. Mr. "Self Deport" who said he would veto any DREAM Act if it came to him as president is suddenly going to propose a "long-term solution" to immigration that would allow more foreign workers into the country? Romney's anti-immigrant policy advisor Kris Kobach, the author of SB 1070, must have had a stroke when he heard that.

These Latino legislators are not stupid, Mittens, they know you are willing to say anything in a pathetic attempt to pander to them.