Obama Urging Republican-Controlled House to Pass Immigration Reform NOW

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives needs to approve immigration reform by the end of 2013, President Barack Obama said Tuesday before a meeting with business leaders at the White House.

“So this is something that has strong bipartisan support. Keep in mind that my predecessor, George W. Bush, was a strong supporter of this. We have a fascinating cross-section of people – some unlikely bedfellows, some very liberal folks, some very conservative folks – who all believe that now is the time to get this done,” he said.

“There’s no reason why we can’t get this done before the end of the year,” Obama said.

Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, met with top executives of such companies as Lockheed Martin, Marriott, Motorola and McDonalds.

The president noted the economic advantages of going ahead with immigration reform, since it would mean that “businesses are going to have more customers, we’re going to see people who are currently working here, out of the shadows, paying taxes and getting right with the law.”

A bipartisan reform bill was passed last June by the Senate, which has a Democratic majority, and the House of Representatives must now present its plan.

Obama acknowledged that there is currently “some resistance” on the part of Republicans in the lower house, but said it was encouraging that “there are a number of House Republicans who have said, we think this is the right thing to do, as well.”

The president was referring to announcements made last week by two Republican lawmakers, Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Jeff Denham of California, who expressed their support for the reform bill presented by House Democrats.

The Senate plan calls for millions of dollars in investments to improve security along the Mexican border and the opening of a path to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants estimated to live in the United States.

Published in Latino Daily News