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At MTV Townhall, President Obama Answers Immigration Questions

Posted October 18, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Federal Immigration Policy

On October 14, America’s Voice tweeted about the end of MTV’s Presidential Townhall, which touched on immigration. Here’s the text of the exchange from Jackie Mahendra:

On the DREAM Act:

Q Good afternoon, Mr. President, my name is Alejandro Gonzales. I’m a junior at Georgetown University. And I came from Cuba when I was six years old. Since coming from Cuba, I have been able to live the American Dream, because I’ve been able to get a higher education. Others haven’t been as lucky as I am, and there’s a lot of immigrants in this country today who unfortunately can’t do that. How will your administration take concrete steps to make sure that legislation like the DREAM Act gets passed before the end of your term, so that these immigrants don’t live the dream—don’t dream the dream, live the reality?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the DREAM Act, this is a concept that I think is central to the American story. Each wave of immigrants that have come in have been able to assimilate, integrate and then rise up and become part of this great American Dream.

We’ve now got a group of young people in this country who for all practical purposes are American. They grew up here. They’ve gone to school here. They don’t know anything other than being American kids. But their parents may have brought them here without all the proper paperwork—might have brought them here when they were three, might have brought them here when they were five.

And so, lo and behold, by the time they finish school, and they’re ready to go to college, they find out they can’t go to college and, in fact, their status as Americans are threatened.

And so what we’ve said is for those young people, who didn’t break any laws, they didn’t have a choice when they came here, give them a chance by getting an education, or serving in our military, having a series of standards that they have to meet in terms of showing good character. And if they do that, then give them a pathway for finally getting their paperwork straight and being full-fledged American citizens.

It’s the right thing to do. It has received bipartisan support in the past. My strong hope is that we can get bipartisan support for this in the future. And this is something that I’ve been a cosponsor of this legislation on. I’m going to keep on pushing.

I actually feel somewhat optimistic that we can get it done in the next legislative session.

On immigration reform and the Arizona law:

Q Thank you very much. And my question for you deals with an issue that I saw back in my home state of Mississippi, and something that came up earlier this year. First I just want to say, like, my next-door neighbors are illegal immigrants and I play soccer with them—this is not an issue of race. But, Mr. President, at the same time, I’ve seen the drugs pour into my community, coming through Mexico. I’ve seen the cartels become more powerful. And I’ve also seen a state in Arizona that, when they tried to do something about it because they didn’t see anything coming out of Washington the last two years, that when they tried to do something about it they felt cut off. They were attacked. They were accused of some human rights infringements.

So my question for you is this: When Arizona passed a law, the Justice Department said it infringed upon their jurisdiction and struck it down. However, when California passed the legalization of marijuana, an issue with drugs—which also ties into federal policy—the federal government said that they would stay out of the way. How do you reconcile those two things, particularly how they relate to the border and the security of our country?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me first of all be clear. When it comes to our approach to federal drug enforcement, we take federal drug enforcement extraordinarily seriously, spend a lot of money on it. But obviously we have to figure out who is it that we’re going after, because we’ve got limited resources. And so decisions that are made by the Justice Department or the FBI about prosecuting drug kingpins versus somebody with some small amount in terms of possession, those decisions are made based on how can we best enforce the laws that are on the books.

When it comes to immigration, I have actually put more money, under my administration, into border security than any other administration previously. We’ve got more security resources at the border—more National Guard, more border guards, you name it—than the previous administration. So we’ve ramped up significantly the issue of border security.

What I have also said, though, is that if we’re going to solve the problem, then given the massive border that we have on the south—and by the way, a massive border on the north that nobody talks about—that the best way for us to solve it is in a comprehensive way. That means, number one, that we have serious border security. And we want to work with states like Arizona so that border security is meaningful.

Number two, it means that we’re going after employers who are hiring and then taking advantage of and exploiting undocumented workers—which happens a lot. Undocumented workers can’t report if they’re not being paid overtime, or if their health and safety laws are being violated, of if they’re not getting the minimum wage. And so a lot of times companies prefer to hire them in order to take advantage of them. We’ve got to crack down on those employers.

The third thing I think we have to do is to make sure that the undocumented workers who are living here today, that they have to take responsibility. They’ve got to register, pay a fine, pay their back taxes, learn English and then get on a pathway in which they could have the prospect of being here legally.

If we can do that, that allows us then to focus our attention on folks who have violated laws, who are here illegally, drug cartels who are trying to take advantage of turmoil at the border in order to peddle their wares. That’s got to be the strategy—a comprehensive strategy. That’s something we’re committed to. And we’ve got to work with states to do it. It’s something that I welcome not only with Arizona but with every state down on those borders.

MR. CALLOWAY: Okay, thank you, Mr. President.

Tags : america's voice, dream act, immigration reform, mtv, obama

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