Faced with US Congressional elections in November and a downhill approval rating, President Barack Obama is expected to make a strong push for the long-pending immigration overhaul as he delivers his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
The Senate passed last June an omnibus immigration reform bill that not only proposed a 13-year path to citizenship to the country’s 12 million illegal immigrants, but also included certain provisions targeting Indian IT firms operating in the US even while mooting a big expansion of H-1B work visas that have largely benefited Indian software workers.
But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have refused to act on the Senate plan, making it clear that it would go about the issue in a piecemeal manner and come out with own policy alternatives.
With more than six months having passed without any discernible House action, Obama is set to flag the immigration reform issue prominently. He has been under tremendous pressure from the Hispanic constituency, which also accounts for much of the undocumented immigrants.
Having pushed through the health care overhaul in his first term, Obama regards immigration reform as the biggest legislative initiative for his second term. It is a major issue for his support base that includes an overwhelming majority of Hispanics and Asian Americans.
America’s largest trade union, the AFl-CIO, has urged Obama to announce administrative action “to ease the deportation crisis that is wrecking workforces, families and communities”.
Although some Republican lawmakers have hinted at plans to act on the immigration bill, there is no word yet from House Speaker on John Boehner on the precise line that the party would follow on the various components of the legislation.
“The Republican Congress is not going to rubber-stamp the president’s agenda. And the president is not going to sign the Republican Congress’ agenda,” White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer told Fox News on Sunday, said while conceding the legislative hurdles ahead.
To keep up the pressure, a group of Democratic lawmakers has invited several advocates of immigration reform, including at least two undocumented immigrants, to the US Capitol to listen to the president’s address.
“This year, we joined together to invite people whose stories illustrate the importance of immigration reform and to make clear that passing comprehensive immigration reform should be at the top of the to-do list,” the Democratic lawmakers said in a joint statement, drawing flak from conservative anti-immigration bodies such as the Federation for Immigration Reform.