January 25, 2012 - Taking an aggressive and dangerous political move, President Obama in his 2012 State of the Union Messages called for comprehensive immigration reform. He insisted that congress resurrect the Dream Act, a bill which would permit young people that entered the United States illegally at young age, attend college or the military to be place on the path to full citizenship.
He asked congress to increase the number of visas for highly skilled immigrants, explaining that ,many obtain their education in the United States only to leave America and work elsewhere because of the stringing immigration policy.
But he made his most important point to those that are currently in the middle of the immigration tornado by making it clear that even if comprehensive immigration reform is not politically possible this year, he would take small steps to lessen the burden of the illegal immigrant.
“If election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country,” said Obama.
He make it clear that those opposing Comprehensive Immigration Reform, no longer have the excuse that we first have to secure the border, because during his administration he has placed more "boots' on the border than any other prior administration by hiring a great number of Border Patrol agents. It is a known fact that his administration has reduced the number of illegal crossings since he took office.
In his words: “((The opponents of action are out of excuses))”
Obama’s concept of immigration reform closely reflected his call for comprehensive immigration reform in the State of the Union speech last year and in many of his speeches. Last years effort in passing the Dream Act went in vain when the Dream Act passed the Democratic-controlled House but failed to win enough votes in the Senate due to Republican filibuster..
Over the past year, the anti-immigrant banter become even louder as the country felt the persistent effect of low employment and depressed home prices.
If the Dream Act passes it would help young people who entered U.S. before the age of 16 is a high school graduate, who agrees to go to at least two years of college or serve in the military for the same time.
It is estimated that some 1.2 million immigrants would qualify for the Dream Act.
Now the question is whether Obama's talk about comprehensive immigration reform and the dream act is just another election year carrot or will it materialize into a full scale reform of a broken immigration system?