Obama Returns To Immigration Reform

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A president wins election and vows to overhaul America’s “broken” immigration system.

President George W. Bush made the promise during each of his two terms, but despite — or maybe because of — his moderate approach to the issue, he failed to deliver. President Barack Obama made the same pledge after he won the White House in 2008, and so far he’s had exactly as much luck with the issue as Bush.

This week, with epic budget battles looming on Capitol Hill, Obama made it clear that, while most Americans have, in fact, heard this one before, he’s not joking about wanting to tackle immigration reform.

On Tuesday, he summoned members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, to the White House to strategize on the issue. A few hours earlier, two of the president’s top lieutenants invited a dozen reporters, including this one, to a briefing on the president’s latest immigration offensive.

Obama’s strategy is to frame immigration reform as an economic imperative for the United States and bring public pressure to bear on a Congress that has been unwilling or unable to reach any kind of broad consensus on the issue.

“He’s committed and will be leaning into this issue in a very serious and very vigorous way,” said Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. “He has asked members of his Cabinet who have enthusiastically agreed to join him and other members of the community, as well as senior staff, to get it done.”

Getting it done won’t be easy. In fact, it could be harder than ever with an election year looming and Republicans controlling the U.S. House.

One of the cornerstones of Obama’s general proposal (he has not produced a bill, and aides say he won’t) is allowing an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to remain in the country if they pass a background check and clear other hurdles. Describing the idea as amnesty, most Republicans say it’s a non-starter.

Nevertheless, there are signs Congress might be working up an appetite for some kind of immigration reform.

Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., are expected to put legislation on the Senate’s plate soon. Meanwhile, Obama wants to jump-start the DREAM Act. The proposal would let the children of illegal immigrants remain in the country and work towards citizenship if they enroll in college or join the military. The bill passed the House late last year, but a Senate filibuster threat derailed it in the upper chamber. Obama made clear in a speech in Miami last week that he wants to try again.

Given the scope of the challenge, Obama’s decision to spend his time and political capital on immigration could signal one of two things. He truly believes it’s an economic and moral imperative for America, or he wants to send a message to millions of Hispanics who will vote in 2012. Barnes insisted it is the former, not the latter.

Barnes worked on Capitol Hill for a dozen years before coming to the White House. She said she is still hopeful that “common sense” will prevail on Capitol Hill and the House and Senate will send Obama an immigration bill. That optimism conflicts with my experience, which says common sense is not always something Americans can count on from Congress.

“There comes a point when members of Congress continue to hear from this range of stakeholders — again, not just the Latino community, not just the president saying this is important, but a range of constituencies. They look at what’s going on economically, they look at what’s happening in their states and their districts, and they say enough, enough,” Barnes said. “We have now defied common sense in not acting on this issue.”

Barnes stressed that, in addition to dealing with the illegal immigrants already here, a comprehensive immigration approach would involve further tightening America’s borders, more deportations of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and more aggressive crackdowns on employers who hire immigrants illegally.

One thing Obama doesn’t support is state and local governments taking immigration matters into their own hands.

Anyone following the immigration debate is well aware of Arizona’s controversial law allowing police to detain people they suspect of being in the country illegally. Alabama is considering a similar law. New Mexico’s governor and Legislature have been wrestling with an existing state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Barnes said a state-by-state approach to immigration creates a confusing patchwork of laws counter-productive to a national solution. That’s easy for Washington officials to say because they don’t deal — as state governments do — with the very real day-to-day challenges of managing undocumented populations.

“Hopefully, that kind of energy and focus will be turned from the states and their legislators and others to the Congress to move forward and to get this done,” Barnes said.

As the interview ended, White House director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz rejected the notion that Obama simply wants a bill before next year’s election. And she echoed Barnes’ message of determination.

“A deadline suggests that we would place an arbitrary date after which we would stop,” Muñoz said. “We’re not stopping. We’re going to keep at it until we get it done.”

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Michael Coleman, the Journal’s Washington correspondent, at mcoleman@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal