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Obama Lists Partisanship as Key Hindrance to Immigration Reforms
- By Williams Ekanem
- Published May 16th, 2011
- Washington File
- Unrated
UNITED States President, Barack Obama kick start what portends to be another great debate in Washington after the health care debate with comments on comprehensive immigration reforms.
The President pointed accusing fingers at members of the Republican Party as opposing the popular immigration reform while speaking at El Paso, Texas.
According to Onbama, “We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we’ve done. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I’ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.”
Stating the conditions the Republicans wanted before they can give assent to immigration reforms, Obama said, “they wanted more agents at the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history.
The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents — more than twice as many as there were in 2004. It’s a build-up that began under President Bush and that we’ve continued, and I had a chance to meet some of these outstanding agents, and actually saw some of them on horseback who looked pretty tough. Then they wanted a fence, the fence is now basically complete.”
Said Obama, “then we’ve gone further. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts working at the border. I’ve deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the skies from Texas to California. We have forged a partnership with Mexico to fight the transnational criminal organizations that have affected both of our countries. And for the first time — for the first time we’re screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments to seize guns and money going south even as we go after drugs that are coming north.”
On the efficacy of all these, the President said, But the truth is the measures we’ve put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, 64 percent more weapons than ever before. And even as we have stepped up patrols, apprehensions along the border have been cut by nearly 40 percent from two years ago. That means far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.
The President pointed accusing fingers at members of the Republican Party as opposing the popular immigration reform while speaking at El Paso, Texas.
According to Onbama, “We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we’ve done. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I’ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.”
Stating the conditions the Republicans wanted before they can give assent to immigration reforms, Obama said, “they wanted more agents at the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history.
The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents — more than twice as many as there were in 2004. It’s a build-up that began under President Bush and that we’ve continued, and I had a chance to meet some of these outstanding agents, and actually saw some of them on horseback who looked pretty tough. Then they wanted a fence, the fence is now basically complete.”
Said Obama, “then we’ve gone further. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts working at the border. I’ve deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the skies from Texas to California. We have forged a partnership with Mexico to fight the transnational criminal organizations that have affected both of our countries. And for the first time — for the first time we’re screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments to seize guns and money going south even as we go after drugs that are coming north.”
On the efficacy of all these, the President said, But the truth is the measures we’ve put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, 64 percent more weapons than ever before. And even as we have stepped up patrols, apprehensions along the border have been cut by nearly 40 percent from two years ago. That means far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.
