Obama Says Amnesty Debate in 2010
In a visit to Mexico, Pres. Barack Obama said he expects Amnesty legislation to be drafted in Congress this fall with debate beginning after the first of the year. While the President has always maintained that he wants to pursue immigration reform, he has come under heat recently from open-borders groups for not doing enough.
"Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No," said Pres. Obama. "There are going to be demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable."
Pres. Obama has said in the past that he'd like to take up the immigration issue in year one, but the debate over health care reform and the state of the economy have overshadowed the issue. This is the first time that he has offered a more detailed timetable.
Pres. Obama did maintain his prior statements that the United States needs to do a better job of managing the flow across the border before offering a path to citizenship for those currently in the country illegally.