President Barack Obama brought immigration policy to the front burner Thursday in an address that called for comprehensive reform.
“After years of patchwork fixes [and] ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders,” Obama said before an audience made up of religious, labor, and business leaders at American University in Washington, D.C.
In his nearly 40 minute long remarks, the President outlined the provisions Congress should incorporate into reform legislation, including additional security along U.S. borders and a path to citizenship for those already in the country illegally.
“They must be required to admit they broke the law, register, pay their taxes, pay a fine and learn English,” Obama said. “They must get right with the law before they get in line and earn their citizenship.”
Obama also emphasized that reform would need to avoid the solutions put forward by those on the far ends of the political spectrum, noting that neither amnesty nor mass deportation were realistic or desirable approaches.
The issue of immigration reform gained national prominence in April when Arizona passed a controversial bill that allowed law enforcement officials to ask individuals suspected of being in the country illegally for proof of citizenship.
Obama said Thursday that the law, which the White House has been a fierce critic of since its passage, can be attributed to the federal government’s failure to address border security.
“Into this breach, states like Arizona have decided to take matters into their own hands,” Obama stated. “Given the levels of frustration across the country, this is understandable, but it is also ill-conceived.”
In 2005 and 2006, a push by Congress to reform the immigration system made considerable headway, but ultimately flopped when the legislation passed in both chambers could not be reconciled.