del.icio.us
Digg It!
E-Mail to a Friend
Printable Version
Comments
Official White House, courtesy White HouseFlickr stream
Speaking to reporters at a summit in Mexico, President Barack Obama said Monday that he plans to tackle immigration reform -- and to provide a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants -- but not until after Congress has finished with its overhaul of the healthcare system.
"It's very important for us to sequence these big initiatives in way where they don't all just crash at the same time," he said, according to the Washington Post.
Obama told reporters that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has already begun coordinating discussions on immigration reform with House and Senate leaders, and that intensified efforts will begin later this year. But he said it will probably be 2010 before any new legislation is passed.
Obama added that he will not let short-term political interests -- such as next year's mid-term elections -- scare him away from moving forward on immigration, saying he believes a new immigration policy is in the long-term interests of the United States.
"We have a broken immigration system," he said. "Nobody denies it."
Obama said he believes the current system creates tension with Mexico, depresses wages in the United States and leads some employers to exploit the illegal immigrants in America, among other things.