Obama: Immigration plan is an 'economic imperative'

[The Northerner]

President Obama went to the Texas-Mexico border Tuesday to stump for his "comprehensive" immigration plan, saying it is both "the right thing to do" and "smart for our economy."

"One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else," Obama said in El Paso.

"Immigration reform is an economic imperative," he added.

While touting ongoing improvements to secure the border, Obama again called for an overall immigration bill that would include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants who are already in the U.S.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/05/obama-promotes-his-version-of-comprehensive-immigration-reform/1

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. This needs more recs.

He's hitting the right tone. Informing as well as persuading.

It's the people who are hiring illegal aliens, and have done so for a century or more, that encourages them to continue immigrating here. As long as Obama takes it from the employer side of things, the situation may rectify itself.

And the upside, if they stay in their own countries, hopefully with a democratic vote, they can change the political landscape. Of course, Americans may not like to hear this, but that's going to mean more socialistic states like Venezuela. Personally, it works for them. We can't have it all go our way.

[Romulox]

2. Double digit unemployment, Mr. President. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Care to elaborate?

[emilyg]

5. Yep.

[DonCoquixote]

11. yes

caused in part by the fact that the present "get those brown people" policy allows the rich to operate underground, and not pay payroll taxes.

[leftstreet]

4. Immigrants aren't coming here. There are no jobs

However, if you get the M$M to talk about "immigration reform!!!!1111" you get people coming here again

Interesting how that works

:eyes:

[Edweird]

6. Reagan Amnesty II.

[TNLib]

7. Can we get rid of H1B's Please!!!!

nt

[MikeW]

8. right

"One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else,"

So employeers can suddenly start hiring them LEGALLY at very low wages.

Unemployed Americans get screwed again.

Jobs for AMERICANS FIRST everyone else can wait in line.

[DonCoquixote]

10. BS

"One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else,"

So employeers can suddenly start hiring them LEGALLY at very low wages.

NO, actually, so that they can be hired at at least a minimum wage, from which they pay into thing like SOCIAL SECURITY, unless you really really want those jobs picking oranges for three dollars an hour.

Jobs for AMERICANS FIRST everyone else can wait in line.

Frankly, the rich pull the whole "they are taking your jobs" ;line to make sure you fight your fellow working class members, instead of fighting the people who ACTUALLY have the $$$!

[nichomachus]

9. Illegal immigration is aphony "problem"

Illegal border crossings have dropped 72 percent over the last 10 years. The immigration flow is now going in the other direction. The corporatists hired Lou Dobbs to gin up an "illegal immigrant" threat to set up a scapegoat class to take the fall for the corporate destruction of the middle class. Obama is playing the game too.

[dkf]

12. Cheap source of labor that depresses wages for everyone else?

Finally someone admits it.