Obama vs the GOP on immigration / State of the Union, Immigration Reform
Obama vs. the GOP on immigration Just a week after House GOP voted to de-fund President Obama #39;s executive actions on immigration, he fired back Tuesday night...
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Obama vs the GOP on immigration / State of the Union, Immigration Reform - Video
WATERLOO | Immigration reform activists in Iowa plan to capitalize on a gathering this Saturday that will bring more than a dozen 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls to the state a year ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
The Iowa Freedom Summit hosted by U.S. 4th District Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, and Citizens United will be in Des Moines Saturday. In addition to ticketed guests, the immigration activists will seek the ears of potential candidates.
Waterloo activist Monica Reyes, a co-founder of DREAM Iowa, will be among the reform advocates who hope to hear the candidates stances on immigration and the executive orders advanced by President Barack Obama that allow Reyes to live legally in the state.
Reyes said during a press conference with other activists from around the state that their mission this Saturday at the summit is to respectfully confront as many candidates as possible to get their immigration stances on record and to ensure their message on the issue is clear and consistent.
This just kind of the beginning. Its just starting, Reyes said. We want to make sure that these people actually make their stance clear.
Reyes said she is not interested in speaking to any presidential hopeful in particular, but rather to as many who are willing to voice their opinions.
Erika Andiola, co-director of DRM Action Coalition, agreed but also expressed interest in hearing from those like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who have previously expressed some support for programs like Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Reyes said she wants to make clear the implications of reversing DACA.
She said for people like her who benefited from DACA, a reversal means losing a good-paying job, economic stability, the ability to attend college, losing a house, and otherwise losing security.
Are they willing to cause that kind of damage to a lot of people that are finally able to have upward mobility? Is this something that they are willing to have as a cost? Its a human cost to their actions, Reyes said.
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Waterloo immigration activist's group to be at Steve King summit
Senator Marco Rubio said Republicans in Congress should focus more on strengthening U.S. border security and other immigration measures than on trying to overturn President Barack Obamas orders easing deportations.
I would prefer we would spend the majority of our time actually acting on our immigration reform platform, Rubio, a Florida Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday in Washington.
Even so, Rubio said, I think we should try to prevent this new executive order from kicking in.
On Jan. 14 the House passed a bill that went beyond Republicans pledge to reverse the presidents November orders shielding about 5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from deportation.
The House measure also seeks to block a 2012 Obama directive that protected immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. In addition, the measure sought to reverse a series of memos starting in 2011 that said terrorists and criminals should be deported first.
House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders agreed to include those measures, which were sought by Tea Party-aligned lawmakers. Democrats say the move risks alienating Hispanic voters because it targets children who were brought illegally to the U.S. through no fault of their own.
Rubio said he supports rolling back the presidents November orders, though he declined to support reversing the 2012 order on immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Rubio, 43, is the son of Cuban exiles.
His position reflects the difficult line Republicans must walk on the immigration issue as the 2016 congressional and presidential elections approach. It also is an acknowledgment of his partys legislative limits. Though Republicans now control both chambers of Congress, Obama said he would veto any legislation reversing his orders.
If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took up the House bill it would put force many Republicans like Rubio to cast a difficult vote.
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Rubio Backs Focus on Border Security Over Reversing Obama Orders
Story highlights President Barack Obama didn't mention or comparatively downplayed a number of key issues in his State of the Union He mostly avoided ObamaCare and immigration reform, despite acting on those issues during his time in office He also ignored gun control and campaign finance reform, two of progressives' pet priorities
In the 70-minute-long address, the President gave only lip service to immigration reform. He made no remarks on protecting Social Security and Medicare just as Republicans have hinted at a coming battle over welfare reform and only passing reference to the crowning achievement of his first term, Obamacare, just as it's beginning to bear fruit for many Americans. And he didn't mention the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline by name, which Republicans favor as a job-creation opportunity but the White House has said Obama would veto.
READ: Obama: 'Tonight, we turn the page'
The speech was overall a rallying cry to progressives, a promise that he'll put up a fight for their priorities now that he's freed from the bounds of another reelection fight. It drew widespread praise from congressional Democrats, and near-uniform dismissal from Republicans.
But the omissions were a reminder that, though the President's popularity is on an upswing, his legacy remains unclear and his final two years in office will still be full of challenges.
The immigration reform snub was perhaps his most glaring hole. Obama only warned against "refighting past battles on immigration when we've got a system to fix," and called for empathy towards immigrants.
"Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is taken from her child, and that it's possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants," he said during Tuesday night's speech.
That's in contrast to his 2013 State of the Union speech, when he called for Congress to pass a comprehensive reform bill and declared: "Let's get this done."
Even last year he demanded, "let's get immigration reform done this year."
On this issue, however, Obama may be feeling less urgency because he's already done some of the work on his own, with his executive action delaying deportations for millions of immigrant families last year. But the omission underscores what a prickly subject it remains politically, one that's already the center of another spending fight on Capitol Hill that will come to a head next month.
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What Obama didn't say in State of the Union address
Immigration activists keep close eye on SOTU / Equality, Immigration Reform
Immigration activists keep close eye on SOTU How has President Obama #39;s actions on immigration affected his approval ratings? A new NBC/Wall Street Journal po...
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Immigration activists keep close eye on SOTU / Equality, Immigration Reform - Video