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Barack Obama
Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Delivered 1 July 2010, American University, Washington, D.C.

AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio

Thank you. Everyone please have a seat. Thank you very much. Let -- Let me thank Pastor
Hybels from near my hometown in Chicago, who took time off his vacation to be here today.
We are blessed to have him.

I want to thank President Neil Kerwin and our hosts here at American University; acknowledge
my outstanding Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, and members of my administration; all the
members of Congress -- Hilda deserves applause. To all the members of Congress, the
elected officials, faith and law enforcement, labor, business leaders and immigration
advocates who are here today -- thank you for your presence.

I want to thank American University for welcoming me to the campus once again. Some may
recall that the last time I was here I was joined by a dear friend, and a giant of American
politics, Senator Edward Kennedy. Teddy’s not here right now, but his legacy of civil rights
and health care and worker protections is still with us.

I was a candidate for President that day, and some may recall I argued that our country had
reached a tipping point; that after years in which we had deferred our most pressing
problems, and too often yielded to the politics of the moment, we now faced a choice: We
could squarely confront our challenges with honesty and determination, or we could consign
ourselves and our children to a future less prosperous and less secure.

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I believed that then and I believe it now. And that’s why, even as we’ve tackled the most
severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, even as we’ve wound down the war in Iraq
and refocused our efforts in Afghanistan, my administration has refused to ignore some of the
fundamental challenges facing this generation.

We launched the most aggressive education reforms in decades, so that our children can gain
the knowledge and skills they need to compete in a 21st century global economy.

We have finally delivered on the promise of health reform -- reform that will bring greater
security to every American, and that will rein in the skyrocketing costs that threaten families,
businesses and the prosperity of our nation.

We’re on the verge of reforming an outdated and ineffective set of rules governing Wall Street
-- to give greater power to consumers and prevent the reckless financial speculation that led
to this severe recession.

And we’re accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy by significantly raising the
fuel-efficiency standards of cars and trucks, and by doubling our use of renewable energies
like wind and solar power -- steps that have the potential to create whole new industries and
hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America.

So, despite the forces of the status quo, despite the polarization and the frequent pettiness of
our politics, we are confronting the great challenges of our times. And while this work isn’t
easy, and the changes we seek won’t always happen overnight, what we’ve made clear is that
this administration will not just kick the can down the road.

Immigration reform is no exception. In recent days, the issue of immigration has become
once more a source of fresh contention in our country, with the passage of a controversial law
in Arizona and the heated reactions we’ve seen across America. Some have rallied behind this
new policy. Others have protested and launched boycotts of the state. And everywhere,
people have expressed frustration with a system that seems fundamentally broken.

Of course, the tensions around immigration are not new. On the one hand, we’ve always
defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants -- a nation that welcomes those willing to
embrace America’s precepts. Indeed, it is this constant flow of immigrants that helped to
make America what it is. The scientific breakthroughs of Albert Einstein, the inventions of
Nikola Tesla, the great ventures of Andrew Carnegie’s U.S. Steel and Sergey Brin’s Google,
Inc. -- all this was possible because of immigrants.

And then there are the countless names and the quiet acts that never made the history books
but were no less consequential in building this country -- the generations who braved hardship
and great risk to reach our shores in search of a better life for themselves and their families;

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the millions of people, ancestors to most of us, who believed that there was a place where
they could be, at long last, free to work and worship and live their lives in peace.

So this steady stream of hardworking and talented people has made America the engine of
the global economy and a beacon of hope around the world. And it’s allowed us to adapt and
thrive in the face of technological and societal change. To this day, America reaps incredible
economic rewards because we remain a magnet for the best and brightest from across the
globe. Folks travel here in the hopes of being a part of a culture of entrepreneurship and
ingenuity, and by doing so they strengthen and enrich that culture. Immigration also means
we have a younger workforce -- and a faster-growing economy -- than many of our
competitors. And in an increasingly interconnected world, the diversity of our country is a
powerful advantage in global competition.

Just a few weeks ago, we had an event of small business owners at the White House. And
one business owner was a woman named Prachee Devadas who came to this country, became
a citizen, and opened up a successful technology services company. When she started, she
had just one employee. Today, she employs more than a hundred people. This past April, we
held a naturalization ceremony at the White House for members of our armed forces. Even
though they were not yet citizens, they had enlisted. One of them was a woman named Perla
Ramos -- born and raised in Mexico, came to the United States shortly after 9/11, and she
eventually joined the Navy. And she said, “I take pride in our flag and the history that forged
this great nation and the history we write day by day.”

These women, and men and women across this country like them, remind us that immigrants
have always helped to build and defend this country -- and that being an American is not a
matter of blood or birth. It’s a matter of faith. It’s a matter of fidelity to the shared values
that we all hold so dear. That’s what makes us unique. That’s what makes us strong.
Anybody can help us write the next great chapter in our history.

Now, we can’t forget that this process of immigration and eventual inclusion has often been
painful. Each new wave of immigrants has generated fear and resentments towards
newcomers, particularly in times of economic upheaval. Our founding was rooted in the
notion that America was unique as a place of refuge and freedom for, in Thomas Jefferson’s
words, “oppressed humanity.” But the ink on our Constitution was barely dry when, amidst
conflict, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which placed harsh restrictions of those
suspected of having foreign allegiances. A century ago, immigrants from Ireland, Italy,
Poland, other European countries were routinely subjected to rank discrimination and ugly
stereotypes. Chinese immigrants were held in detention and deported from Angel Island in
the San Francisco Bay. They didn’t even get to come in.

So the politics of who is and who is not allowed to enter this country, and on what terms, has
always been contentious. And that remains true today. And it’s made worse by a failure of
those of us in Washington to fix a broken immigration system.

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To begin with, our borders have been porous for decades. Obviously, the problem is greatest
along our Southern border, but it’s not restricted to that part of the country. In fact, because
we don’t do a very good job of tracking who comes in and out of the country as visitors, large
numbers avoid immigration laws simply by overstaying their visas.

The result is an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The
overwhelming majority of these men and women are simply seeking a better life for
themselves and their children. Many settle in low-wage sectors of the economy; they work
hard, they save, they stay out of trouble. But because they live in the shadows, they’re
vulnerable to unscrupulous businesses who pay them less than the minimum wage or violate
worker safety rules -- thereby putting companies who follow those rules, and Americans who
rightly demand the minimum wage or overtime, at an unfair [dis]advantage. Crimes go
unreported as victims and witnesses fear coming forward. And this makes it harder for the
police to catch violent criminals and keep neighborhoods safe. And billions in tax revenue are
lost each year because many undocumented workers are paid under the table.

More fundamentally, the presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those
who are going through the process of immigrating legally. Indeed, after years of patchwork
fixes and ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders.
Backlogs and bureaucracy means the process can take years. While an applicant waits for
approval, he or she is often forbidden from visiting the United States -- which means even
husbands and wives may be forced to spend many years apart. High fees and the need for
lawyers may exclude worthy applicants. And while we provide students from around the
world visas to get engineering and computer science degrees at our top universities, our laws
discourage them from using those skills to start a business or power a new industry right here
in the United States. Instead of training entrepreneurs to create jobs on our shores, we train
our competition.

In sum, the system is broken. And everybody knows it. Unfortunately, reform has been held
hostage to political posturing and special-interest wrangling -- and to the pervasive sentiment
in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics.

Just a few years ago, when I was a senator, we forged a bipartisan coalition in favor of
comprehensive reform. Under the leadership of Senator Kennedy, who had been a longtime
champion of immigration reform, and Senator John McCain, we worked across the aisle to
help pass a bipartisan bill through the Senate. But that effort eventually came apart. And
now, under the pressures of partisanship and election-year politics, many of the 11 Republican
senators who voted for reform in the past have now backed away from their previous
support.

Into this breach, states like Arizona have decided to take matters into their own hands. Given
the levels of frustration across the country, this is understandable. But it is also ill conceived.

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And it’s not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive -- although it has fanned the flames of
an already contentious debate. Laws like Arizona’s put huge pressures on local law
enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable. It puts pressure on already
hard-strapped state and local budgets. It makes it difficult for people here illegally to report
crimes -- driving a wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets
more dangerous and the jobs of our police officers more difficult.

And you don’t have to take my word for this. You can speak to the police chiefs and others
from law enforcement here today who will tell you the same thing.

These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and
legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they
look like or how they sound. And as other states and localities go their own ways, we face the
prospect that different rules for immigration will apply in different parts of the country -- a
patchwork of local immigration rules where we all know one clear national standard is
needed.

Our task then is to make our national laws actually work -- to shape a system that reflects our
values as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And that means being honest about
the problem, and getting past the false debates that divide the country rather than bring it
together.

For example, there are those in the immigrants’ rights community who have argued
passionately that we should simply provide those who are [here] illegally with legal status, or
at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better
laws. And often this argument is framed in moral terms: Why should we punish people who
are just trying to earn a living?

I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an
indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair. It would suggest to those thinking
about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this
could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration. And it would also ignore the millions of
people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally.

Ultimately, our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders and
set laws for residency and citizenship. And no matter how decent they are, no matter their
reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable.

Now, if the majority of Americans are skeptical of a blanket amnesty, they are also skeptical
that it is possible to round up and deport 11 million people. They know it’s not possible. Such
an effort would be logistically impossible and wildly expensive. Moreover, it would tear at the
very fabric of this nation -- because immigrants who are here illegally are now intricately
woven into that fabric.

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Many have children who are American citizens. Some are children themselves, brought here
by their parents at a very young age, growing up as American kids, only to discover their
illegal status when they apply for college or a job. Migrant workers -- mostly here illegally --
have been the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers for generations. So even
if it was possible, a program of mass deportations would disrupt our economy and
communities in ways that most Americans would find intolerable.

Now, once we get past the two poles of this debate, it becomes possible to shape a practical,
common-sense approach that reflects our heritage and our values. Such an approach
demands accountability from everybody -- from government, from businesses and from
individuals.

Government has a threshold responsibility to secure our borders. That’s why I directed my
Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano -- a former border governor -- to improve
our enforcement policy without having to wait for a new law.

Today, we have more boots on the ground near the Southwest border than at any time in our
history. Let me repeat that: We have more boots on the ground on the Southwest border
than at any time in our history. We doubled the personnel assigned to Border Enforcement
Security Task Forces. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts along the border. For
the first time, we’ve begun screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments. And as a
result, we’re seizing more illegal guns, cash and drugs than in years past. Contrary to some
of the reports that you see, crime along the border is down. And statistics collected by
Customs and Border Protection reflect a significant reduction in the number of people trying to
cross the border illegally.

So the bottom line is this: The southern border is more secure today than at any time in the
past 20 years. That doesn’t mean we don’t have more work to do. We have to do that work,
but it’s important that we acknowledge the facts. Even as we are committed to doing what’s
necessary to secure our borders, even without passage of the new law, there are those who
argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully
sealed our borders. But 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. Our borders will not be secure as long as
our limited resources are devoted to not only stopping gangs and potential terrorists, but also
the hundreds of thousands who attempt to cross each year simply to find work.

That’s why businesses must be held accountable if they break the law by deliberately hiring
and exploiting undocumented workers. We’ve already begun to step up enforcement against
the worst workplace offenders. And we’re implementing and improving a system to give
employers a reliable way to verify that their employees are here legally. But we need to do
more. We cannot continue just to look the other way as a significant portion of our economy
operates outside the law. It breeds abuse and bad practices. It punishes employers who act
responsibly and undercuts American workers.

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And ultimately, if the demand for undocumented workers falls, the incentive for people to
come here illegally will decline as well.

Finally, we have to demand responsibility from people living here illegally. They must be
required to admit that they broke the law. They should be required to register, pay their
taxes, pay a fine, and learn English. They must get right with the law before they can get in
line and earn their citizenship -- not just because it is fair, not just because it will make clear
to those who might wish to come to America they must do so inside the bounds of the law,
but because this is how we demonstrate that being -- what being an American means. Being
a citizen of this country comes not only with rights but also with certain fundamental
responsibilities. We can create a pathway for legal status that is fair, reflective of our values,
and works.

Now, stopping illegal immigration must go hand in hand with reforming our creaky system of
legal immigration. We’ve begun to do that, by eliminating a backlog in background checks
that at one point stretched back almost a year. That’s just for the background check. People
can now track the status of their immigration applications by email or text message. We’ve
improved accountability and safety in the detention system. And we’ve stemmed the
increases in naturalization fees. But here, too, we need to do more. We should make it
easier for the best and the brightest to come to start businesses and develop products and
create jobs.

Our laws should respect families following the rules -- instead of splitting them apart. We
need to provide farms a legal way to hire the workers they rely on, and a path for those
workers to earn legal status. And we should stop punishing innocent young people for the
actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education and
contribute their talents to build the country where they’ve grown up. The DREAM Act would
do this, and that’s why I supported this bill as a state legislator and as a U.S. senator -- and
why I continue to support it as president.

So these are the essential elements of comprehensive immigration reform. The question now
is whether we will have the courage and the political will to pass a bill through Congress, to
finally get it done. Last summer, I held a meeting with leaders of both parties, including
many of the Republicans who had supported reform in the past -- and some who hadn’t. I
was pleased to see a bipartisan framework proposed in the Senate by Senators Lindsey
Graham and Chuck Schumer, with whom I met to discuss this issue. I’ve spoken with the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus to plot the way forward and meet -- and then I met with them
earlier this week.

And I’ve spoken with representatives from a growing coalition of labor unions and business
groups, immigrant advocates and community organizations, law enforcement, local
government -- all who recognize the importance of immigration reform.

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And I’ve met with leaders from America’s religious communities, like Pastor Hybels -- people
of different faiths and beliefs, some liberal, some conservative, who nonetheless share a sense
of urgency; who understand that fixing our broken immigration system is not only a political
issue, not just an economic issue, but a moral imperative as well.

So we’ve made progress. 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. But the
fact is, without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this
problem. Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without

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Years before the statue was built -- years before it would be seen by throngs of immigrants
craning their necks skyward at the end of long and brutal voyage, years before it would come
to symbolize everything that we cherish -- she imagined what it could mean. She imagined
the sight of a giant statue at the entry point of a great nation -- but unlike the great
monuments of the past, this would not signal an empire. Instead, it would signal one’s arrival
to a place of opportunity and refuge and freedom.

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,” she wrote,

A mighty woman with a torch…

From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome…
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”…
“Give me your tired, and your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free…
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Let us remember these words. For it falls on each generation to ensure that that lamp -- that
beacon -- continues to shine as a source of hope around the world, and a source of our
prosperity here at home.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

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