WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama called for bipartisan action on immigration reform, outlining essential elements of a comprehensive reform package, without setting timetables or introducing new policies.
“I believe we can put politics aside and have an immigration system that’s accountable,” Obama said Thursday to an audience of religious, business and labor leaders at American University’s (AU) School of International Service. “I think we can appeal not to people’s fears but to their hopes and their highest ideals. Because that’s who we are as Americans.”
In his first presidential speech on the issue, Obama framed the debate around American values of fairness and heritage as a refuge for “oppressed humanity” as Thomas Jefferson once said. Avoiding the polarizing rhetoric that has come to define the immigration debate, Obama recast the conversation and recited lines from Emma Lazarus’ 1883 poem, “The New Colossus”, saying that fixing immigration has a political, economic and moral imperative.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” he said. “Being an American is not a matter of blood or birth, it’s a matter of faith and it’s a matter of fidelity to the shared values that we all hold so dear.”
Obama’s remarks has come amid growing public contention on the issue, as states and local governments draw up controversial laws to enforce federal immigration law. Arizona’s S.B. 1070, which allows police to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest and reasonably suspect to be illegal, goes into effect at the end of the month. Other state lawmakers have said they are planning to enact similar legislation.
Obama called the Arizona measure “ill-conceived,” and a dangerous precedent for the nation prompted by the federal government’s failure to act.
The president challenged Republicans to collaborate on the divisive dilemma as they had done in the past. He said conservatives had abandoned the issue to avoid political repercussions in the upcoming midterm elections.
