Obama pushes immigration reform, seeks broad support | Reuters

It is good to hear that neither Republican nor Democrats believe this bill can be passed this year. That will give the Republicans time to increase their representation in Congress and have greater influence on a bill that most of us believe is necessary. It is totally unrealistic to believe we can deport 11-13 million people, and it would be better to give them work visas, get them on the tax roles and have them contribute to society. However, it would be foolish for any bill to be passed before we get control of our borders to prevent a mass immigration into our southwest.

Excerpt: President Barack Obama renewed his push for U.S. immigration reform on Thursday, reaching out to Hispanic voters despite minimal chances that Congress will pass such legislation this year.

In a broad speech that did not break new policy ground, Obama, a Democrat, called for Republican support to pass a law that addresses the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country without disrupting the economy or violating American values.

Obama did not lay out a timetable for passing national reform but said he was ready to pursue the issue if Democrats and Republicans could work together.

"I'm ready to move forward, the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward," he said.

"Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes. That is the political and mathematical reality."

"There are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders," he said. "Our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won't work."

Republicans have honed in on the border issue, which is a top priority for voters in border states such as Arizona.

"If he would take amnesty off the table and make a real commitment to border and interior security, he will find strong bipartisan support," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

"But attacks on states filling the breach created by the failure of the federal government won't secure the border, grow jobs or create solutions for what we all agree is a broken immigration system," he said.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch characterized Obama's speech as "little more than cynical political pandering to his left wing political base and is more about giving backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants than real reform." UPDATE 1-Obama pushes immigration reform, seeks broad support | Reuters