WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will seek to build momentum for US immigration reform this week ahead of his State of the Union address, which is expected to challenge Republicans to take up an overhaul amid an increasingly contentious debate in Washington.
Obama plans to hold a series of White House meetings with corporate chief executives, labour leaders and progressives today to lobby for their support, and he has dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to the Southwest to tout the administration’s border security efforts.
The flurry of activity, including new moves in Congress, comes amid disagreement between the Democratic president and many Republicans over the question of citizenship for illegal immigrants, an obstacle that could make it hard to reach a final deal on sweeping legislation. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, will address immigration reform and other issues in a speech today to the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
In excerpts to that speech, Cantor walked a fine line on future citizenship for those in the United States illegally. “We must balance respect for the rule of law and respect for those waiting to enter this country legally, with care for people and families, most of whom just want to make a better life and contribute to America,” he said.
Obama is expected to use his February 12 State of the Union speech to Congress – a major annual address by the president in which he lays out his legislative priorities for the year – to keep the heat on Republicans, who appear more willing to accept an immigration overhaul after they were chastened by Latino voters’ rejection in the November election.
But differences have emerged since Obama and a bipartisan Senate working “group of eight” rolled out their proposals last week aimed at the biggest US immigration revamp in decades.
Obama wants to give America’s 11 million illegal immigrants a clear process to achieve citizenship, including payment of fines, criminal background checks and going to the “back of the line” behind legal applicants. He has vowed to introduce his own bill if Congress fails to act in a timely fashion.
But top Republicans want to defer citizenship until the county’s borders are deemed more secure – a linkage that Obama and most of his fellow Democrats would find hard to accept.
Obama’s aides are confident the president has enough leverage to avoid giving ground. They believe that if the reform effort fails in Congress, voters are more likely to blame the Republicans and they would suffer in the 2014 midterm congressional elections.
The Republican strategy could soon become clearer. The Judiciary Commit-tee of the Republican-controlled House, where reform faces the toughest fight, will kick off hearings today with a broad look at the immigration system and border security.
A congressional Democratic aide said Republicans have lined up a set of witnesses that is “a lot more balanced than you would have seen in previous Congresses, when you would have seen hard-line enforcement-only advocates be front and centre.”
A number of leading Republicans, worried that their party has alienated Hispanics with anti-immigrant rhetoric, have made clear they want to set a new tone with the fast-growing Latino electorate. More than 70 per cent of Hispanic voters backed Obama in the November 6 presidential election.
Immigration reform advocates will watch the hearing closely to see whether Republicans mostly stress piecemeal reforms, such as more border security and more guest workers and high-tech visas, rather than the comprehensive reforms that Obama and the Democrats are seeking.
