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November 19, 2014 01:00 PM EST

Our immigration system has been broken for decades -- and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law and contribute to our country.

So tomorrow night, President Obama will address the nation to lay out the executive actions hes taking to fix our broken immigration system. You can watch the President live tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET atWhiteHouse.gov/Live.

This is a step forward in the Presidents plan to work with Congress on passing common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. He laid out his principles for that reform two years ago in Del Sol High School in Las Vegas -- and thats where hell return on Friday to discuss why he is using his executive authority now, and why Republicans in Congress must act to pass a long-term solution to immigration reform.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on immigration reform at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, NV. January 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Senate passed a bipartisan bill more than 500 days ago, and while the country waits for House Republicans to vote, the President will act -- like the Presidents before him -- to fix our immigration system in the ways that he can.

So tune in tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ETto learn what the President is doing to ensure that America will continue to be what it has always been: a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.

Originally posted here:
Tune In: The President Addresses the Nation on Immigration ...

TIME Ideas faith Obamas Executive Action on Immigration Will Tear Us Apart President Barack Obama meets with business leaders on immigration reform on June 24, 2013 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGANAFP/Getty Images

Russell Moore is President of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

I disagree with President Barack Obamas decision to act unilaterally on immigration policy. I am for immigration reform, for all sorts of reasons that I have outlined elsewhere. The system we have is incoherent and unjust. I have worked hard to try to see the system changed, and will continue to do so. Its because of my support for immigrants and for immigration reform that I think President Obamas executive actions are the wrong way to go.

On more than one occasion, I asked President Obama not to turn immigration reform into a red state/blue state issue. People across the political spectrum support fixing this system, and it shouldnt be a partisan wedge issue. I also asked him not to act unilaterally, but to work for consensus through the legislative process. To his credit, he did just that for a long while, and the Republican Congress took no action. He also told me, and others, that his patience was not endless on this.

Now the President says that he is out of patience and that he will use executive authority to achieve some of the goals of immigration reform. We can debate whether the President has the authority to undertake these actions unilaterally, but, regardless, this is an unwise and counterproductive move.

Yes, the Republican House has done nothingup to this point. I am as frustrated with that as anyone. But as we all know, there is a new reality in Washington, with Republicans now the majority in both houses of Congress. The Republicans have said that they want to demonstrate that they can govern, and that they want to find areas where they can work together with the White House. Why not give them the opportunity to do so?

Over the past several years, a remarkable consensus has emerged on immigration reform, uniting the left, right and center. I am often in meetings in which those of us at the table can agree on almost literally nothing else. The business community, agriculture, law enforcement, religious constituencies and immigrant advocacy groups have come to this question with unique but overlapping points of concern. There are few Americans who think the system works as it is, and there is little support for deporting 11 million people from this country. This consensus is one to cultivate, not to tear apart.

Acting unilaterally threatens that consensus, and is the wrong thing to do. Even those who support broad executive action (including many friends of mine) acknowledge that the actions wont solve the problem, only a legislative solution will. My hope is that the Republicans in Congress will not allow the Presidents actions here to be a pretext for remaning in the rut of the status quo. Too many people are harmed by this broken system, many of them our brothers and sisters in Christ. The lives of immigrant families, made in the image of God, are too important for political gamesmanship.

More importantly, I pray that our churches will transcend all of this posing and maneuvering that we see in Washington. Whatever our agreements and disagreements on immigration policy, we as the Body of Christ are those who see every human life as reflecting the image of God. Immigrant communities are a great blessing not only to this country, but to our churches. Many of the most anointed churches in evangelism and ministry are led by immigrants to this country.

Whatever our political disagreements, we ought to continue to stand with them, and to see to it that the immigrants among us are welcomed and loved. Whatever happens in the White House, our churches must press on with ministry and mission.

Link:
Obamas Executive Action on Immigration Will Tear Us Apart

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In recent years, everyone from Bill Gates to Facebook's (FB, Tech30) Mark Zuckerberg to Reddit's Alexis Ohanian have spoken out about the importance of immigration reform.

Foreign students disproportionately study tech fields, but there are limited options for them to stay in the U.S. after graduation. This hurts the U.S.' competitiveness and stifles innovation, especially since foreign-born entrepreneurs account for 44% of Silicon Valley founders, according to Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford Law School.

"In today's environment, where we have a war for talent and for STEM jobs here in the U.S., it's impossible to find talent and it's really detrimental for the growth of the tech community," said Romish Badani, founder of immigration software platform Bridge US.

Here's what techies and experts are concerned about:

The H1-B visa policy is too restrictive.

The H-1B is the most popular visa for high-skilled foreigners. But it's capped at 85,000 a year and the quota is filled through a lottery. According to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, more than twice that number of people applied in one week this year.

Related: Broadcast networks opt out of Obama immigration speech -- except Univision

However, it's not within Obama's executive power to increase the annual number of H-1Bs, according to Tahmina Watson of Watson Immigration Law.

But he could tap unused visas from a previous decade.

The rest is here:
Four immigration fixes that could turbo-charge tech

In the hours before President Barack Obamas anticipated announcement of unilateral immigration reform, NewsCenter 16 reached out to local groups that have been advocating for reform on a national level for years.

There is excitement, its bittersweet, its bittersweet, said Jesusa Rivera, a community organizer for the group Gamaliel.

Immigration reform is not what we imagined when we started fighting for this ten years ago but its a very historic victory for our movement. Millions of peoples lives will be changed yet well continue to fight because its not over, Rivera explained.

An announcement on immigration has been long awaited, some close to the White House said the announcement would likely protect up to five million unauthorized immigrants from the threat of deportation and provide work permits.

Rivera agreed with President Obamas anticipated decision to utilize his executive authority.

If our congress cannot get it done during the time frame theyve had a lot of time do thatsomething needs to happen, said Rivera.

Attorney at Law, Rudy Monterossa, said any change in immigration law that facilitates the path to citizenship is a much-needed change.

Monterossa deals with families and individuals seeking legal avenues to work and even drive. Unfortunately, as a part-time public defender, he sees many illegal immigrants appearing in court for repeat offenses of driving without a license.

The fact is that a lot of those individuals of the 12.5 million that are here unlawfully do have a petition submitted or some other legal means to legalize their status, but because our system is so backlogged it takes forever for them to legalize, Monterossa explained.

Contrary to Republican criticism that President Obamas expected use of the Executive Order is unconstitutional, Monterossa believes Obama is well within his authority to make the change.

Visit link:
Immigration announcement is "bittersweet" for those seeking reform

With President Obama making his announcement to take executive action on immigration at 8:00 pm ET and with Republicans vowing to fight him, we have one simple prediction for both sides. To quote the famous 20th Century philosopher Clubber Lang, Pain. For Obama, our new NBC/WSJ poll previews that predicted pain, with 48% of Americans opposing him taking executive action here, versus 38% supporting him. (Those numbers look very similar to polling on the health-care law, no?) That said, our NBC/WSJ survey also shows the public supporting him on the underlying policy -- with 57% favoring a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and with 74% backing it when they hear what that pathway entails. Beyond the legal arguments (and most legal experts believe Obamas action is within the law), Obamas biggest problem here is process. Americans prefer elected leaders coming together to get something done; indeed, our NBC/WSJ poll shows the public wanting compromise over sticking to positions by a 63%-30% margin. So Obama probably is going to take a hit for going it alone. WHAT he is doing here isnt as unpopular as HOW hes doing it. And if weve learned anything in this era of political trench warfare, when the opposition is throwing the kitchen sink back at the White House, that doesnt help a presidents poll numbers.

GOP is more divided right now than the Democrats

But pain also is coming for the Republican Party. Why? Because no current issue divides the GOP more than immigration reform. Just look at the reaction after yesterdays news that Obama was going to make his executive-action announcement. On the one hand, there was outgoing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) calling the recipients of Obamas deportation policy illiterate potential Democratic voters. On the other hand, there was Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), one of the co-authors of the Gang of 8 Senate immigration bill, who told reporters that Republicans should respond to Obama by passing immigration-reform legislation. "I hope we respond with legislation," he said. "I hope we pass legislation." Right now, the Democratic Party is much more united here than the Republican Party is, at least when it comes to how they respond. And then theres the 2016 angle. As we wrote last week, Obamas immigration action is going to ENSURE that immigration becomes a key part of the GOP presidential nominating race. Most (if not all) of the Republicans running for president are going to have to denounce the move. And then the GOP contest will turn into whos tougher against the action. Like we saw in 2008 and 2012, that would push the eventual GOP nominee farther to the right than he or she might want to go. This is why some Republicans wanted to get immigration done last year -- to keep the issue away from the 2016 race.

A product of Obamas own doing

Heres one final point well make on Obamas immigration announcement and the blowback thats coming his way: Its his own doing. By allowing Senate Democrats to persuade him to wait until AFTER the midterms to do this, youre hearing Republicans complain that Obama is ignoring the will of the voters. (Then again, the 2014 national exit poll found 57% saying illegal immigrants working in the United States should be offered a chance to apply for legal status.) Of course, had Obama made his announcement in August or September, the blowback might have come then instead of now. But given what we said above about how its already divided Republicans, you wonder if Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) wishes immigration had been the storyline heading in the final weeks of his failed re-election bid instead of everything else.

Jim Webb announces presidential exploratory committee

If you picked the former one-term Virginia senator as the FIRST person to announce a presidential bid (either in the form of an exploratory committee or full-fledged run), you win a prize. Late last night (at 11:59 pm ET !!!!!), former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, Democrat, launched his exploratory committee late Wednesday night via Twitter, NBCs Kelly ODonnell reports. The former Marine, Navy secretary and author has been hinting at a run for the Democratic nomination for months. "I made this decision after reflecting on numerous political commentaries and listening to many knowledgeable people," Webb wrote on new website Webb2016.com. "I look forward to listening and talking with more people in the coming months as I decide whether or not to run." Why announce this so late at night? And why during the Great Immigration War? If you know Webb, nothing he does conforms to conventional wisdom.

Kasich stands out in Boca

At yesterdays RGA confab in Boca Raton, FL, Ohio Gov. John Kasich stood out -- by sounding different than his fellow GOP governors who might run for president (Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal). Per NBCs Sarah Blackwill, of the five governors on stage, only Kasich was open to the possibility of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, saying: "We've got to think about what's going to bring about healing. My sense is, I don't like the idea of citizenship when people jump the line, we may have to do it." Kasich's tone throughout the panel was strikingly different than his Republican colleagues, who called the president's planned move "the height of arrogance" (Jindal), "unconstitutional in his own words" (Perry), a "profound mistake" (Pence) and a "political" act to "change the subject" (Walker). Instead, Kasich called on Republican leaders in Congress to work with the president. As Yahoos Jon Ward writes, Kasich also appeared to support Common Core, and he justified his decision to expand Medicaid (Ronald Reagan expanded Medicaid, OK?).

Almost like the election never happened

Here is the original post:
Immigration Action Will Likely Bring Pain (for Obama and GOP)