Obama, leftist activists to push on immigration reform (amnesty)
Barack Obama is enlisting activists and labor leaders in a push for comprehensive immigration (amnesty) legislation that will showcase Republican opposition and include a speech by the president.
By ERICA WERNER (AP)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is enlisting activists and labor leaders in a push for comprehensive immigration legislation (amnesty) that will showcase Republican opposition and include a speech by the president.
The strategy was discussed during a meeting Monday by a range of prominent labor leaders and activist groups. Participants said Obama reiterated his support for immigration legislation but noted the political realities that have stalled it in Congress.
Latino leaders say they will work in coming months to pressure Republicans to give way and support an immigration bill — and make opponents pay at the ballot box if they don’t.
“We’re going to make absolutely crystal clear who’s at fault here,” said Eliseo Medina, a leader of the Service Employees International Union.
Prospects for passage of comprehensive immigration legislation look bleak this election year, and even many Democrats are wary of wading into the hot-button issue. But Obama, who pledged as a candidate to make immigration reform a top priority during his first year in office, faces pressure from the Hispanic community to act — or at least to try.
That’s only intensified in the wake of Arizona’s passage of a controversial law that requires police officers to question a person’s immigration status if there’s reason to suspect the person is in the country illegally. Obama has spoken out against the law and asked the Justice Department to examine its legality. Activists anticipate that the Justice Department will sue to overturn the law, but in Monday’s meeting Obama said that decision would be left up to the department, and he didn’t give a timeline, participants said.
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