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Although some contend a comprehensive immigration bill is not probable as midterm elections near, President Obama has urged Republican lawmakers to work with Democrats in passing a law that would create an “orderly, fair, humane immigration framework in which people are able to immigrate to this country in a legal fashion,” reports Reuters. President Obama’s request followed his ordering 1,200 National Guard troops to Arizona’s border with Mexico, which he contends will not alone solve the problem.

The troop deployment was met with mixed reviews. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) contends that a deployment of at least 6,000 troops is necessary. Some view the move as an attempt by the president to show Republicans and centrist Democrats that he is serious about immigration, while certain Latino activists contend that it is merely a political gesture and will only negatively impact their community.

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The Dallas Morning News reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano remains optimistic that Congress eventually will pass a bipartisan immigration-policy overhaul bill. However, because the White House and Congress are consumed with healthcare legislation, Napolitano could not predict when a bill would be introduced. Nevertheless, she believes the process will be less contentious than previous attempts during the Bush administration.

Napolitano stated that immigration legislation needs to focus on the following:

• Developing or strengthening penalties for employers that repeatedly hire illegal immigrants;
• Countering new tactics used by human traffickers and money launderers to exploit the border;
• Developing programs that allow seasonal workers to enter the U.S. legally; and
• Updating the visa process so that students with skills needed by the U.S. can remain in the country.

Napolitano expressed her opposition to amnesty, stating that she favors an approach allowing illegal immigrants to pay fines and taxes without incurring criminal liability.

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President Barack Obama plans to begin addressing changes to the U.S. immigration system this year, even though he acknowledges that the recession makes the politics involved in this divisive issue even more challenging. As reported in The New York Times, a senior administration official stated that Obama will frame the new effort as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system.”

Without stating specific proposals, officials commented that the Obama administration favors legislation that would:

• bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by acknowledging that they violated the law and imposing fines and other penalties as deemed appropriate; and
• guard against future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and being tough on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers.

Obama plans to speak publicly about immigration issues in May, and over the summer he will convene bipartisan working groups, composed of lawmakers and a variety of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation. Administration officials are still debating the precise timing and strategy for the proposed legislation.

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At a meeting attended by all 24 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, President Obama stated his intent to push for a comprehensive immigration overhaul during the first year of his presidency. Although the president was said to have discussed specific timelines for legislation, neither the President nor the attendees disclosed dates for action following their meeting. The White House sought to play down the talks and the substance of the discussions apparently in recognition of how difficult it will be to gain the support needed to pass legislation creating substantial change in immigration policy. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona who attended the meeting, said that President Obama promised to use his executive authority to make some substantive immigration changes soon, without waiting for passage of legislation.

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In comments to a small group of Hispanic journalists, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel cited a newly signed law that provides health benefits to legal immigrants’ children as a signal that, in the debate over immigration, “the arrow has begun to point in a different direction.” Emanuel’s comments, as reported at HispanicBusiness.com, refer to a law that increases the number of children covered by the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) from 7 million to 11 million, including--for the first time--children of legal immigrants. Emanuel would not say when Obama might propose comprehensive immigration reform.

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President Obama's immigration agenda has been posted on the official White House website.  The broad agenda is composed of the following items:

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.

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