Obama Pressed from Left on Immigration
EmailABC News’ Teddy Davis reports: President Barack Obama’s trip this week to Mexico and the Caribbean are intended to underscore his commitment to Latinos in the United States. But if you talk to Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., the first Hispanic member of Congress to endorse Obama, the president still needs to convince him that he is committed to speedy action on comprehensive immigration reform. "The Hispanic Congressional Caucus asked for a meeting with the president and after six weeks we got one," Gutierrez told ABC News, referring to a meeting which took place at the White House on March 18. "And I still remember the last words from President Obama as we walked out: ‘Don’t oversell it.’" "If you and I met and you asked me for something and you were going out to talk to the press and those were my last words to you, how confident would you feel?" asked Gutierrez. Gutierrez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, spoke with ABC News by phone while on the 18th in a series of trips around the country to build support for immigration reform. He holds his meetings in churches, both Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant. His Friday event, which is being held in Salinas, Calif., is geared towards the state’s agricultural farm workers. All the events, which feature personal accounts from Hispanics who are losing relatives to deportation, are organized around the theme of family unity. "Mothers and fathers are losing their wives or their husbands. Children are losing their parents. Grandparents are losing their grandchildren. Brothers and sisters are being divided," said Gutierrez. "We have soldiers that have gone to Iraq whose wives have been under orders to be deported from this country," he added. "Our system is broken and this is our civil rights issue." Asked how he would overcome opposition from lawmakers who worry about rewarding illegal behavior, Gutierrez said that the United States does not have the resources nor the will for a mass deportation. "It’s impossible to deport 12 million people and their millions of American siblings," said Gutierrez. "It is not going to happen." Gutierrez was pleased to see Obama administration officials tell The New York Times on April 8 that the president plans to speak publicly about immigration reform in May before convening working groups on the issue this summer and discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall. According to Gutierrez, the timeline was "in sync" with what the president said during his meeting with Hispanic lawmakers in March. But Gutierrez is not taking anything for granted. "I’ve seen a lot of balloons float only to be shot down and nothing comes of them," said Gutierrez. While many members of Congress are afraid to challenge a popular president of their own party, Gutierrez said he is going to continue to pressure the president. "I’ve already flown on Air Force One, it was nice. I’ve been to a state dinner, it was wonderful," said Gutierrez. "But I would rather have comprehensive immigration reform." "If we don’t speak to it, it will not be on the agenda," he added. ABC News’ Ferdous Al-Faruque contributed to this report.
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Another debt o owes and it sounds like he better pony up.
Posted by: cc | April 17, 2009, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
Of course he’s being pushed from the left. They want to push up the number of people, legal or illegal, for the census. The higher the count, the more federal funding for all these social programs. More abuse of taxpayers for their own political gain.
Posted by: bct | April 17, 2009, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
How is importing poverty and a flood of unskilled labor prompting more unfunded mandates that we can’t afford even if we wanted to, supposed to “help” the economy???
You want to lose more public services and spend more money for the privledge I’ve got a solution… Amnesty for breaking the law, and open borders to keep criminals, drugs, and God knows what else, flooding into the country…
Posted by: hmn | April 17, 2009, 7:07 pm 7:07 pm
I’m for comprehensive immigration reform, just along is it includes stiffer penalties for people who hire them and more ICE raids.
Posted by: Paul Cragle | April 17, 2009, 7:08 pm 7:08 pm
Are these Reps that are being elected working for the USA or other countries ? Do they feel they are a USA American or are loyal to another country ? I have never seen this happen in any other country that an elected government official would advocate for people who are in the country illegally, have broken the law and, in most cases, committed identity theft. I worked with a man that was from France and he was in the USA military. He did not want to become a citizen and did not apply. It is not unusual, believe it or not, for foreigners to be in our military. If they want to be a citizen they should apply to be one. What is wrong with that ? Why aren’t the citizens in this country entitled to a country ? I am talking about all citizens of all races. Are we homeless ?
Posted by: jd | April 17, 2009, 7:27 pm 7:27 pm
I’m still for sending all of them back to where they came from! These politicans are so stupid when they make comments about the civil rights of an Illegal. These people have no civil rights!!!! Kids or not, get them all out of this country. Any politician backing citizenship for these illegals needs to be voted out of office ASAP!!
Posted by: ridus | April 17, 2009, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm
I’m for comprehensive immigration reform, just along is it includes stiffer penalties for people who hire them and more ICE raids.
Posted by: Paul Cragle | Apr 17, 2009 7:08:05 PM
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That is exactly what they told us would happen on the last amnesty. It did not happen and it would not happen again.
Posted by: jd | April 17, 2009, 8:03 pm 8:03 pm
Lost in the debate is the point that thousands of bright, energetic, and hard working Asian and non-Hispanic immigration applicants are playing by the rules, waiting patiently for their visa applications to be reviewed. In this country where equal protection and fairness are revered, why do people who illegally enter over the southern border get preferential treatment?
Posted by: B. Bear | April 17, 2009, 8:07 pm 8:07 pm
“It’s impossible to deport 12 million people..” I declare BS! We can land a man on the moon, we have trains, buses and interstates; all the required infastructure. MAKE NO MISTAKE,WE CAN SEND THEM ALL BACK. The costs of such a mass deportation would be FAR, FAR cheaper than the continuing costs on our country due to social security and grant related fraud, hospital care, prison costs, education and so on at the hands of illegal immigration. So in short, “YES WE CAN!” Lastly let me say I have no problem with legal immigration. Some of the brightest minds in the 20th century were immigrants to america (LEGAL). That said, if you want to become a citizen, by spitting at our laws, and stealing someones SS#, and costing the american taxpayer out the wazoo, then YOU are the problem. We dont NEED immigration reform, we NEED the laws ENFORCED!
Posted by: Klatu | April 17, 2009, 8:24 pm 8:24 pm
Very good question B. Bear. Why doesn’t our president look into the “legal” system of immigration ?
Posted by: jd | April 17, 2009, 8:51 pm 8:51 pm
Oh Boo Hoo! Relatives are being deported. Well, maybe they should have thought of that BEFORE they broke the law. They should not have been here in the first place. Obama is, supposedly, all about being fair… how fair is it to all of the immigrants who followed the rules & came here legally? It’s not. I don’t believe it would be impossible to deport these criminals.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | April 17, 2009, 9:27 pm 9:27 pm
Exactly right ellsbells930, they knew they were breaking the law when they sneaked across the border. They knew they were breaking the law when they gave false information to get a job, home, or anything else they applied for. We should award these people with a path to citizenship ? Give us a break. An American citizen does jail time if they write one bad check. These people have done far worse then that and our government will not do anything about it. I can not believe these politicians have that much support for this. We all need to let our Reps know how we feel.
Posted by: jd | April 17, 2009, 11:06 pm 11:06 pm
If my family was being deported I would go with them. Hispanics are very “family oriented”………therefore go with your family back to country of origin.
Posted by: Mickey V. Roland | April 18, 2009, 12:57 am 12:57 am
Where do these “Hispanics” think they are? Back in Mexico, extracting “La Mordida” from yet another person? Corrupt b*stards!!!
They shouldn’t have ANY political power. They represent ILLEGAL ALIENS who ought to be shipped right back to where they spawned.
TEXAS SECEDE!!!!! Take our state and country back!!!
Posted by: Texan for Secession | April 18, 2009, 1:57 am 1:57 am
It’s a little disingenuous to talk about immigration “reform” when we have a government who does nothing to stand behind the laws already on the books. A nation’s immigration laws should be created to protect the citizens of that nation, not the citizens of other nations who come here illegally and then whine about their “rights”. My grandparents immigrated here from Germany and managed to succeed without government handouts and without German as a second language in the schools. Why? Because they came here to work hard and contribute to the nation as a whole, not to take and take some more, screaming about “rights” and totally forgetting about responsibilities. You may owe them, President Obama, but I don’t.
Posted by: Babs | April 18, 2009, 5:37 am 5:37 am
By the way, that 12 million figure is just too conveniently being repeated over and over again by the MSM, so I have a feeling it’s a much larger number than that. Anyone know where to get a more accurate number?
Posted by: Babs | April 18, 2009, 5:40 am 5:40 am
In 4 years when this idiot is run out of office there won’t be any U.S. left!!!!!!!!!! He owes every far left radical group in the Country and if he doesn’t Pelosi does. Between the 2 of them the next 4 years are going to be worse than Bush and I couldn’t stand him. What a mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: lovingpolitics | April 18, 2009, 8:00 pm 8:00 pm
This is one time that the right is right.
You have hit it right on the head Babs!
Posted by: Darryl the Contractor | April 18, 2009, 11:44 pm 11:44 pm
Massive immigration violation. The lack of enforcement has been compounded by abuse of the current implementation of law under the 14th amendment (i.e., if parents are here illegally and have a child the child is a citizen). The supporters of these law breakers then have the audacity to argue that “American Citizens” are injured when the illegal parents are not provided with a path to stay. These supporters of illegals should first have concern for the Americans that are unemployed and underemployed in our inner cities and elsewhere. Grant amnesty to illegals and they will compete for a larger range of jobs and demand special programs because they represent a disproportionate share of the poor. Ronald Regan took a massive step down this flawed path with 1986 amnesty. Enforcement did not follow and 40 million people placing a burden on the U.S economy and environment.
Posted by: merchantilist | April 19, 2009, 8:00 pm 8:00 pm
Massive immigration violation. The lack of enforcement has been compounded by abuse of the current implementation of law under the 14th amendment (i.e., if parents are here illegally and have a child the child is a citizen). The supporters of these law breakers then have the audacity to argue that “American Citizens” are injured when the illegal parents are not provided with a path to stay. These supporters of illegals should first have concern for the Americans that are unemployed and underemployed in our inner cities and elsewhere. Grant amnesty to illegals and they will compete for a larger range of jobs and demand special programs because they represent a disproportionate share of the poor. Ronald Regan took a massive step down this flawed path with 1986 amnesty. Enforcement did not follow and 40 million people placing a burden on the U.S economy and environment.
Posted by: merchantilist | April 19, 2009, 8:03 pm 8:03 pm
I am totally against the granting of amnesty for anyone that is in this country ILLEGALLY. Since when do we reward someone for their criminal acts? If in fact these clowns that think they know what is best for us want to grant amnesty to illegals that disrespected our laws, then it is time to also grant blanket amnesty to all persons that are in our jails and prisons.
During the elections I read that our new President and of course Ms. Clinton were catering to the “mexican” vote. Since when do mexicans vote in US elections?
There are many more negatives to granting amnesty to illegals than positives.
This is such a hot button issue that it should be decided by a popular vote of the legal citizens of the United States. Not by some clowns that will never be directly affected by pushing these people off on the common person.
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Posted by: Adipex. | September 3, 2009, 9:14 am 9:14 am
He needs to focus on the economy instead of jumping everywhere except where he should be. God help us for the next 3 1/2 years!
Posted by: Maryanne | September 24, 2009, 1:56 pm 1:56 pm