President Obama and Immigration Reform

President Barack Obama has a lot on his plate right now, with the American economy collapsing and two wars in the Middle East. As a result he has said little, and done even less, on the topic of immigration reform.

Now this is not an indictment of him at all, he has been president for less than two months and he has to prioritize. I think that in this era of internet news and 24 hour cable news stations the way progress and achievement are perceived has been thrown way out of sync, and that everyone needs to step back and give actions time to either succeed or fail, or fall somewhere in between the two, before evaluating the president's actions. As the saying goes, "a watched pot never boils."

But President Obama will have to address the immigration problem sooner or later, hopefully sooner because I think a lot of other problems can be solved by smart and sensible immigration reform. What will Obama's views be on the subject? Let's take a look at some of his past statements on immigration. From 2007 while campaigning:



He shows a good understanding of the real problems associated with the current immigration system and not just generalizations. I also like that he said, "The notion that we are going to round up 12 million people is unrealistic." He also presents a smart, albeit vague, 5 step plan for bringing undocumented immigrants out of hiding and onto the path to citizenship. But this was during his campaign, and two years ago, and as a result should be taken with a grain of salt as viewpoints tend to change as voters' opinions do. Here he is during a debate with Hillary Clinton in 2008:



He scores more points with me with his assertion that blaming problems on immigrants is scapegoating. But both of these came during the campaign, what will he do now that he has been elected and needs to actually take action on the problem.

On the White House website a five part plan is given for immigration reform, but lacks any explanations for how the changes will be accomplished. From the website:

Create Secure Borders: Protect the integrity of our borders. Support additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.

Improve Our Immigration System: Fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally: Remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Bring People Out of the Shadows: Support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

Work with Mexico: Promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

I agree with all of these points, however I believe immigration reform will be an even greater obstacle than health care reform and entitlement reform. And both of those are shaping up to be epic battles. But while most people agree that health care and entitlement programs are in serious need of drastic changes, the same cannot be said about immigration for some parts of our society. Whether the cause is xenophobia, insecurity about jobs, or racism, there are people who believe we should kick everyone out and close our borders completely. These people are vocal and unwavering in their positions, and have a lot of clout in Congress and the media, and I can only hope President Obama has the determination to see immigration reform all the way through. Because with opponents like these, immigraton reform will be a long and unimaginably difficult battle.