During this morning’s meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), President Barack Obama renewed his campaign promise to tackle the immigration system.
Since being sworn into office, the president has been busy dealing with the economic crisis and has been criticized for not addressing immigration sooner. During the campaign, Obama supported a comprehensive overhaul of immigration policy, including creation of a possible path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding.
Chairwoman of the CHC, Rep. Nydia Velazquez said, “The president made clear to us that he is a man of his word.”
Obama also announced he will travel next month to Mexico City to discuss escalating violence from drug cartels and immigration with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
According to CHC members, the meeting was productive. “The president said more than any of us expected him to say,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. “He was clear, eloquent and determined in letting us know that we’re all together on the route to comprehensive immigration reform.”
Gutierrez added, “He made it absolutely clear that this is a civil rights issue of our community.”
Obama told the group that he will work on immigration, similar to the way he has worked on other major policy initiatives. He also spoke about the possibility of hosting a public forum on immigration, possibly within the next two months.
Legislative efforts have died off since Congress has failed in 2007 to legalize some 11 to 12 million people who are in the country illegally.
While working towards legislation on immigration, the Obama administration is working on internal changes at the Department of Homeland Security, including a comprehensive review of work-place raids according to Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano.
People need to chill out, the man has been in office for two months, the economy is first, without it, there’s no immigration anything…yes immigration reform is important, but come on, the economy affects all of us, not just a group.