Politics
Obama to push for immigration reform this year
Obama will need cooperation from Republicans, but they have acknowledged they need to address issues important to Latinos, an influential voting bloc that voted heavily for Obama and his Democrats in the November election.
Top Republican lawmaker John Boehner has said he wants to see immigration reforms. The House of Representatives passed a bill in November that would create a permanent visa program for foreigners with advanced science and technical degrees.
The Times said a bipartisan group of senators led by Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, would like to introduce comprehensive legislation as early as March, and hold a vote by August.
“This is so important now to both parties that neither the fiscal cliff nor guns will get in the way,” Schumer told the Times, saying talks were advancing quickly.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, often mentioned as a future Republican candidate for president, is also working on the issue, but has proposed tackling the issues in stages rather than in one comprehensive law.
His plan would allow illegal immigrants to gain temporary status and eventually apply for permanent residency, Rubio told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Saturday.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a rising star in the Democratic Party, is slated to speak in Washington on Monday on the importance of quickly advancing immigration reform.
“We can’t do this piecemeal, and we can’t have second-class citizenship. This has to be a pathway to full citizenship,” Villaraigosa said on the CBS show “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
