Obama Pushes Immigration Reform

Courtesy: AP Photo

In a speech pushing for immigration reform in El Paso, Texas, Tuesday, President Barack Obama mocked Republicans, saying they would never be satisfied and willing to compromise.

"They said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they’re going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat. (Laughter.) Maybe they want alligators in the moat," he joked.

He argued now is the time to tackle immigration reform, because of economic reasons. A slightly different angle from his push for reform in the past, which seemed to tug on heart strings, arguing on moral grounds.

In an interview with Univision in 2008 while he was a candidate, Obama said, "What I can guarantee is that we will have, in the first year, an immigration that I strongly support and that I'm promoting and that I want to move that forward as quickly as possible."

But, that didn't happen.

And it hasn't happened his second year in office either.

In 2008, he earned 67 percent of the Hispanic vote, but now some in the community are growing frustrated with the lack of progress.

Now, the White House is shifting more attention to the matter. In the last month, the President has met with business leaders, faith leaders, celebrities and elected officials, all with a stake in immigration reform.

"This is an important part of the campaign to build public awareness and public support for comprehensive immigration reform  -- which we have to do to make sure that it's got the kind of momentum behind it that gets Congress's attention," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

In order to pass immigration reform, though, President Obama will have to find some willing participants on Capitol Hill. And for now, that does not appear to be happening.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Bohener, said the White House hasn't reached out to Boehner's office on this matter, "whatsoever." They have no plans to bring legislation at this point.

Evangelical leaders have been heavily involved in the fight for immigration reform. They still are this time around.

"It's in everyone's interest to get this problem fixed. Nobody disagrees that it's a problem. We all understand that, so I think it makes kind of common, and hopefully moral sense, to say that we need to fix this problem," said Rev. Derrick Harkins, senior pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington D.C.

They don't all seem to have as much 'hope for change' this go-around, though. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, gave CBN News the following statement:

Hopes springs eternal in the human breast, but a realist would have to say that given the demagoguery that has been demonstrated on all sides of the immigration issue, it is difficult to perceive how a comprehensive immigration reform bill could be passed prior to the presidential election in 2012.

There is virtually zero trust on all sides and a general feeling that too many people are shamelessly playing politics with this issue. Perhaps the best we could hope for would be positive legislative action on some specific aspects of the immigration problem such as a "clean" DREAM Act that would only address giving legal status to those children who were brought here at an early age by their undocumented parents.

These children are victims. They did not break the law. A DREAM Act that would give them a pathway to legal status without being attached to any chain migration of their undocumented parents or other family members might have a chance to succeed in this Congress and might help to build trust and support for more comprehensive legislation in the future.