WASHINGTON: Ricardo Campo, a burly and jolly native of El Salvador, and US President Barack Obama both have a huge investment in Congress’ attempt to overhaul US immigration laws, to deal with the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally.
For Campo, a 21-year-old University of Maryland pre-medical student, his future in the country may depend on it. For Obama, a sweeping immigration overhaul is central to his legacy, his best hope for legislative success after Congress turned back his push on gun control and a grand bargain on the nation’s finances.
The Senate is considering a bipartisan bill that would make the biggest changes in America’s muddled immigration system since 1986, when Ronald Reagan was president. It would strengthen border security, allow tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country, require employers to check their workers’ legal status and provide an eventual path to citizenship for immigrants now here illegally. Campo is “very confident” lawmakers will pass a measure that makes a start on fixing the problem, but “there’s still plenty in the legislation I don’t like,” he said at a demonstration outside a Senate hearing on the proposed law.
Obama voiced similar optimism and misgivings about the measure, written by four Republicans and four Democrats.
“The bill that they produced is not the bill that I would have written. There are elements of it that I would change – but I do think that it meets the basic criteria that I laid out from the start,” the president said at a news conference Tuesday. The measure is similar to the immigration principles Obama outlined in January, though there are key differences. For example, the Senate bill makes the pathway to citizenship contingent on securing the border, a link that Obama opposes. It does not recognize gay couples, which Obama supports.
Obama faces a dilemma in pushing for the bill. If he is too closely aligned with the legislation, it could scare away Republicans wary of appearing to hand the president a win. But if he stays on the sidelines and the overhaul runs into trouble in Congress, Obama likely will be criticized for not fighting for votes, as he was after the recent failure of gun control measures he championed. Even if the bill passes the Democratic-led Senate, it will face a rockier path in the Republican-led House of Representatives. Still many Republicans are supporting immigration changes after their party’s poor showing among Hispanics, a growing part of the electorate, in last year’s elections. (Agencies)