Obama Finally Talks About Immigration [VIDEO]

Jorge Rivas

Obama Finally Talks About Immigration [VIDEO]

When Barack Obama was a candidate for president he often mentioned securing U.S. borders, bringing people out of the shadows and improving the immigration system, but since his election we’ve heard very little about his plans for immigration reform. However, yesterday, during a town hall meeting in Orange County, CA an unscreened immigration question was asked. Watch the video above and read the transcripts after the cut and tell us what you think. Share your comments.

In my opinion he got a little nasty, but I can’t help but point out that he’s using the term ‘undocumented’ instead of illegal. Is this all part of a plan?

Transcript:

As many of you know, during the campaign I was asked repeatedly about this, and I reiterated my belief that we have to have comprehensive immigration reform.

Now, I know this is an emotional issue, I know it's a controversial issue, I know that the people get real riled up politically about this, but -- but ultimately, here's what I believe: We are a nation of immigrants, number one.

Number two, we do have to have control of our borders. Number three, that people who have been here for a long time and put down roots here have to have some mechanism over time to get out of the shadows, because if they stay in the shadows, in the underground economy, then they are oftentimes pitted against American workers.

Since they can't join a union, they can't complain about minimum wages, et cetera, they end up being abused, and that depresses the wages of everybody, all Americans.

So I don't think that we can do this piecemeal. I think what we have to do is to come together and say, we're going to strengthen our borders -- and I'm going to be going to Mexico, I'm going to be working with President Calderon in Mexico to figure out how do we get control over the border that's become more violent because of the drug trade. We have to combine that with cracking down on employers who are exploiting undocumented workers.

We have to make sure that there's a verification system to find out whether somebody is legally able to work here or not. But we have to make sure that that verification system does not discriminate just because you've got a Hispanic last name or your last name is Obama.

You've got to..say to the undocumented workers, you have to say, look, you've broken the law; you didn't come here the way you were supposed to. So this is not going to be a free ride. It's not going to be some instant amnesty.

What's going to happen is you are going to pay a significant fine. You are going to learn English. You are going to -- you are going to go to the back of the line so that you don't get ahead of somebody who was in Mexico City applying legally.

But after you've done these things over a certain period of time you can earn your citizenship, so that it's not -- it's not something that is guaranteed or automatic. You've got to earn it. But over time you give people an opportunity.

Now, it only works though if you do all the pieces. I think the American people, they appreciate and believe in immigration. But they can't have a situation where you just have half a million people pouring over the border without any kind of mechanism to control it. So we've got to deal with that at the same time as we deal in a humane fashion with folks who are putting down roots here, have become our neighbors, have become our friends, they may have children who are U.S. citizens.That's the kind of comprehensive approach that we have to take.

Posted at 2:46 PM, Mar 19, 2009 in Immigration | Permalink | View Comments

Comments

My opinion: While he's at least respectful of immigrants, I read a distinct air of condescension in his arguments. Obviously he's trying to straddle both sides of the fence by appealing to the "get tough on immigrants" law-and-order crowd, but I still think that his comments send the wrong message. His exhortation to "learn English" is especially abhorrent, since multilingualism has been the name of the game in the United States from day one.

At the end of the day, the northbound immigration wave is a direct result of US imperialism, particularly its regressive trade policies. Until Obama or some damn body in Washington takes responsibility for that mess, talking tough to immigrants will be nothing more than well-meaning hypocrisy.

As a US citizen, and as the legal wife of a Mexican man who was deported from Chicago back to Mexico in April of 2001, I am sorely disappointed by Obama's response.

I feel that Obama is trying to please too many people at once, and that he is just speaking to the applause.

I also believe that Obama made a definite and powerful choice to use the word, "illegal" instead of "undocumented."

There's a message that he wants to send, and that message crosses the border to Mexico where I'm sitting, and hits me in the gut.

Until Obama, ths US government and Homeland Security can accept the major role that they played in the creation of the broken economic systems for many Latin American countries, then we won't have the critical analysis of this situation that we so desperately need.

When will the US, the country that I was born and raised in, the daughter of a Mexican mother and a white father, when will the US change?

When will it have a fair and just immigration system that takes into account the intersectionality of a myriad of issues around it that must be addressed?

I hope that I live long enough to see that change.

I agree with the idea that Obama is trying to please too many at once. I'm concerned with the nonsense about LEARNING ENGLISH (applause) and Pay A Hefty Fine and talk of stronger "enforcement" and lack of reigning in ICE and their raids, and in general all this bowing and scraping for the xenophobes who would have lit the Irish on fire not long ago. And getting more guns in line with FeCal isnt really getting at the crux of the problems behind the border anyway.

One note to GSH (and thanks for your powerful comment): Obama did not say "Illegal," he did say "to the undocumented worker" so I think that is at least a small plus, that he sends that message. Hope I didnt misundertsand your comment, but it seemed like you mixed the two up. Sorry if I did.

I still don't know how I feel about his comments. President Obama started out being pretty tough, and it almost seems as if he was testing out the crowd because by the end of his comments he seemed like a more warming understanding person when he says ""we've got to deal with that... in a humane fashion with folks who are putting down roots here... they may have children who are U.S. citizens." Obama's comments marked the first time I heard a President use the term 'undocumented' instead of illegal when describing immigrants who have entered the U.S. without authorization. And for me, that is a big step towards decriminalizing people who are coming here for a better life.