Immigration News 2013: Pres. Obama Pushes Immigration, Maintains Support Among Latino Population
Republican John Boehner recently boasted that immigration would be placed on the backburner until 2014, but this didn't stop President Barack Obama from speaking on the issue during a trip to the west coast.
"It's long past time to fix our broken immigration system that doesn't serve America as well as it should," Obama said. "The only thing standing in our way...is the unwillingness of certain Republicans in Congress. We also know that immigration reform would boost our economy and shrink our deficits."
The main concern from Boehner and others is that the recently proposed legislation, which more or less died in the House, was too much at once and that it would be preferred if it was taken on a step-by-step basis. Boehner reiterated that he still wants progress but not at such a fast pace.
"Is immigration reform dead? Absolutely not," the Republican said at a news conference last week. "I have made clear, going back to the day after the last election in 2012, that it was time for Congress to deal with this issue. I believe that Congress needs to deal with this issue."
Obama's willingness to push immigration for some current undocumented immigrants has translated into continued support from Latinos. According to a June survey completed by Latino Decisions/America's Voice, a solid 71 percent of Latinos still approved of the way he has handled immigration reform.
"Among Latinos, his credibility is still pretty good," Gary Segura, the co-founder of Latino Decisions and also a professor at Stanford University, said to SF Gate. "But we're getting down to brass tacks time" to pass legislation.