March 11, 2010  Print Email | Obama discusses immigration reforms
Urges comprehensive approach
Posted by Agencies at 08:25 AM GMT on Mar 19, 2009 | WASHINGTON (AFP): US president Barack Obama called for a "comprehensive approach" to immigration reform yesterday, admitting it was a controversial issue in a country that harbours some 12 million mostly Hispanic undocumented workers.
"It only works, though, if you do all the pieces," Obama told a "town hall" meeting in Costa Mesa, California.
 "I think the American people, they appreciate and believe in immigration, [but] you can't have a situation where you have people pouring over the border without anything to control it.
"They have become our neighbours. They've been our friends. They may have children who have become US citizens. That's the kind of comprehensive approach we have to take," he said, reminding his audience of his upcoming visit to Mexico next month.
Obama said that in addition to securing the border against illegal immigration, "we have to combine that with cracking down on employers who are exploiting undocumented workers."
Earlier yesterday, Obama held a meeting at the White House with Hispanic lawmakers to voice his commitment to present an immigration reform bill later this year.
Two immigration reform bills were defeated in Congress in 2006 and 2007.
In Costa Mesa, Obama said there would be no "instant amnesty" for the millions of undocumented workers currently living in the United States. "You've got to say to the undocumented workers, 'Look, you've broken the law. You didn't come here the way you were supposed to. So this is not going to be a free ride. What's going to happen is you're going to pay a significant fine.' 'You are going to learn English. You are going to go to the back of the line so you don't get ahead of somebody who was in Mexico City applying legally."
"But after you've done these things over a certain period of time, you can earn your citizenship. So that it's not, it's not something that is guaranteed or automatic. You've got to earn it.' But over time, you get people an opportunity."
As a US senator from Illinois, Obama in 2007 voted in favor of immigration reform and made it one of his top campaign issues, winning the key support of 66 per cent of some 10 million registered Hispanic voters in the 4 November presidential election.
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