Immigration Reform Takes Back Seat in Congress

With the traffic jam in Congress that includes a potential Supreme Court appointment, climate change and energy legislation and preparing for upcoming elections, immigration reform doesn’t appear to be high on the list of priorities.

While President Barack Obama still wants bipartisan support of a comprehensive reform bill, Obama told a group of reporters that there many not be an “appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue,” Reuters reported.

“We’ve gone through a very tough year and I’ve been working Congress pretty hard, so I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue,” Obama said.

“There’s still work that has to be done on energy, midterms are coming up, so I don’t want us to do something just for the sake of politics that doesn’t solve the problem,” he said.

Reuters said Obama appeared reluctant to put the issue before climate change legislation. Republicans have made clear they will not cooperate on climate change unless immigration is taken off the table for now.

The passage of tough new laws in Arizona designed to crack down on illegal immigration has, in some ways, spurred federal action to implement changes nationwide.

Obama said he understood concerns about security and the hundreds of thousands of people who enter the country illegally.

“Obviously we still have to do more,” Obama said. “But we have to do more in the context of a comprehensive plan that maintains our status as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.”

Still, the president doesn’t want to pass a bill, “just for the sake of politics,” he said.

A Chicago native, Bridgette has been a journalist since she first wrote for her seventh grade newsletter. Today, that passion is just as strong. She has written for several newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Defender, the Marshall News-Messenger (Texas) and the Springfield News-Sun (Ohio).

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4 Responses to Immigration Reform Takes Back Seat in Congress

1. amrit johal says:

   2:44pm April 29, 2010 at 2:44 pm

   will the presdant of usa let people be american citiczs from india and etc ?

   Reply
   • Bridgette Outten says:

     3:09pm April 29, 2010 at 3:09 pm

     Thanks for visiting our site and your comment. I believe immigrants from every country have the same opportunities to become American citizens. For more information, please visit http://www.uscitizenship.info/ins-citizenship-pro….

     Reply
2. Immigrant says:

   3:26pm April 29, 2010 at 3:26 pm

   Ya he does not want to pass it now. He wants to wait until re-election time in 2012. Then he can court Hispanics in name of immigration and get re-elected. Remember how much effort he put behind HCR? He needs to put same amount of time behind CIR rather than giving lip service. Reid needs to stop flip flopping on his position. He needs to go ahead and get it done. Remember he was the one who pulled it off the table when Bush was in power. Now its time he repents his mistake. If everything else fails they need to work on legal immigration. Hispanic caucus has held legal immigration reform hostage to illegals.

   Reply

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