The White House used Cinco de Mayo as an opportunity to pressure Congress into addressing comprehensive immigration reform. Remarks by the President at Cinco de Mayo Reception (excerpt):
[O]pportunity for all is why I’m fighting so hard to fix a broken immigration system. (Applause.) I am convinced that America’s prosperity and security depend on comprehensive, common-sense immigration reform. Last year, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate came together to pass a common-sense bill that would grow our economy and shrink our deficits, reward businesses and workers that played by the rules — all while upholding our most cherished values as a nation of immigrants.
So far, the Republicans in the House have refused to allow meaningful immigration reform to move forward at all. We know there are Republicans in the House who want to do the right thing. I’m going to work with everybody who’s serious about strengthening our borders, modernizing our legal immigration system, keeping more families together, and getting this done. And it’s the right thing to do for our economy, for our security and our future.
The majority of Americans agree with me on this. It’s time for members of Congress, and Republicans in the House to catch up with the rest of the country. So I need all of you to go out there and mobilize particularly over the next two months — tell them to get on board. Get on board with business leaders and faith leaders, law enforcement, Republicans and Democrats across the country — say yes to fixing our broken immigration system. Let’s get it done right now once and for all. (Applause.)
So, today, on Cinco de Mayo, we celebrate our shared heritage, our shared history, our shared future. That’s not something to be afraid of — that’s something that we need to embrace. That’s what I’m going to be doing, not just today, but every day, to keep fighting for opportunity for all people and greater understanding between all nations. And I know that’s what you’re fighting for as well.
So, gracias. Que Dios los bendiga, y feliz Cinco de Mayo. Thank you, everybody. (Applause.)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdkGA9neSMo]
Vice President Joe Biden made also an impassioned call for immigration reform. Biden’s Cinco De Mayo Message Touts the Undocumented as ‘Americans’:
“We don’t have to redouble our efforts. We have to redouble our demand. We have to redouble our demand that the House of Representatives takes up legislation that’s going to match the strong bill that came out of the United States Senate,” the VP said, referring to the upper chamber’s Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, which passed in the Senate with bipartisan support in June 2013.
“It’s time for John – he’s a good man, John Boehner – to stand up,” Biden said of the GOP House speaker. “And other Republicans to stand up. Not for us to stand. We’ve already stood up. We’ve stood up, we’ve been counted.
“But it’s time for him to stand up, stand up and not let the minority – I think it’s a minority – of the Republican party in the House keep us from moving to a vote to change the circumstances for millions and millions of lives.” Biden told a crowd of about 100 gathered at his home at the Naval Observatory.
Guests – which included the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Anthony Wayne, as well as several Hispanic lawmakers – feasted on chorizo and empanadas to the strains of a five-piece Mariachi band.
The vice president also reiterated his controversial stance that undocumented immigrants were “already Americans.”
“I know I was criticized for saying, a couple months ago in Florida, that these 11 million folks in the shadows are already Americans. And I got pretty roundly criticized for that. But you know, they are Americans. They may not be citizens, but they are Americans,” Biden said.
“The definition of Teddy Roosevelt, who said, ‘Americanism is not a question of birthplace or creed, or line of descent, it’s a question of principles, idealism and character.’ And I would argue that those 11 million folks who are here, breaking their neck, working hard, they are Americans,” he added.
Reflecting on his own encounters with Hispanic people hoping to one day cross the border, Biden described watching bishops deliver communion to Mexicans who stretched their hands through the bars on the fence to receive the bread, calling the experience, “one of the most wrenching and reassuring things I have seen in this debate.”
Call your member of Congress and demand that they act on immigration reform now.