President Obama addresses immigration reform Wednesday at a Cinco de Mayo reception in White House Rose Garden.Washington (CNN) -- President Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to work on comprehensive immigration reform this year, saying it would be the best way to fix the nation's broken immigration system.
Speaking at a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House, Obama again criticized the recently enacted Arizona immigration law as the wrong approach.
"The answer isn't to undermine fundamental principles that define us as a nation," Obama said to applause. He called instead for "common-sense comprehensive immigration reform."
In an apparent effort to clarify his comment last week that the political climate might be too difficult to take up immigration reform, Obama said Congress should begin work now on the issue.
"I was pleased to see a strong proposal for comprehensive reform presented in the Senate last week, and I was pleased it was based on a bipartisan framework," Obama said. "I want to begin work this year. And I want Democrats and Republicans to work with me."
Without a comprehensive federal approach, the president said, state and local authorities would continue to take "misconceived" steps at addressing the illegal immigration problem, such as the recently enacted Arizona law that allows police to ask anyone for proof of legal U.S. residency.
Posted via web from Firesaw
No comments:
Post a Comment