Obama To Meet With Schumer, Graham About Immigration Reform

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is "looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill," Shapiro said Friday.

The meeting will be the first Obama has had with Schumer and Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year.

Immigration has taken a back seat to the economy and health care on Obama's agenda since he took office just over a year ago. Immigrants and their advocates – promised by then-candidate Obama that he would tackle the issue in his first year as president – have been growing frustrated by the inaction.

Several community groups planned to vent some of that frustration in a news conference Monday in Washington. The groups also are trying to organize tens of thousands of people from around the country for a March 21 demonstration in Washington.

"The president's commitment to fixing our broken immigration system remains unwavering," Shapiro said.

Comments

[americanalien]

02:00 AM on 03/12/2010

God bless President Obama. The time for change has come. You can't stop progressive change. History has proven that time and time again. Immigration and Health Care Reform will happen no matter how hard the teabaggers kick and scream. It will be a hard fight but those on the side of progress, always wins in the end.

[NCNative]

10:57 AM on 03/10/2010

Have you read about Senators Graham and Schumar's bill? It's about producing a national ID biometric card. Is anyone else concerned about a massive invasion of privacy... and a giant leap toward a one-world government? They'll soon want to implant RFID chips in our bodies, as the cards can be forged.

[Gary Lloyd]

12:35 PM on 03/10/2010

All anyone need know about Schumer's amnesty bill (proposal) is that it's a sheep in wolf's clothing -- a spineless answer to the problem made-up to appear tough.

There are only two people seeking reform of our current immigration laws: the people breaking these laws and those benefiting from it and these are terrible reasons to change any law.

Schumer's proposal doesn't address the negative impact of giving 20 million illegals a path to citizenship. Schumer, Graham, and Obama would have us believe there couldn't possiby be a negative effect, that the topic shouldn't even be discussed.

It took is 40 years and trillions of dollars to work-out the African-American civil rights problem, and now here are these irresponsible boneheads blightly sponsoring legislation that will give us another "race" with never-ending entitlement demands.

[Gary Lloyd]

02:46 PM on 03/09/2010

The Truth About La Raza, by Gary Lloyd (Part I)

When La Raza morphed from an immigrant advocacy group to a "civil rights" group, it immediately got something that had eluded it for years -- millions of our taxpayer dollars.

Play the race card in the U.S. and you get funded. It's been that way since the real Civil Rights movement.

La Raza quickly patterned itself after African-American civil rights groups: accusing everyone of racism, scheduling "protest marches," promoting the notion of victimization.

Here's the point: anyone who thinks La Raza is going to go away after immigration "reform" is as dangerously ignorant as Obama and Schumer.

La Raza smells power and money and and something even more intoxicating them them both -- La Reconquesta!

When the 20 million gain citizenship, La Raza becomes one of the biggest power brokers in the country, second only to the GOP and DNC, a special interest group whose raw voting power can control our next presidential election and then the very country itself., an unstoppable juggernaut.

A Monster...

Sen. Schumer thinks La Raza will owe the Democratic party. Sen. Schumer is in for a rude-awaking.

Therefore, La Raza's hidden agenda should be of concern to all Americans. First, however, a distinction worth remembering: La Raza is an IMMIGRANT advocacy organization, NOT a Mexican-American advocacy organization; which is to say, La Raza represents illegals --FOREIGNERS! -- NOT Mexican-Americans.

(Part II below...)

[Gary Lloyd]

02:49 PM on 03/09/2010

photo

The Truth About La Raza, by Gary Lloyd (Part Il)

La Raza will be something we never had before -- a group of foreigners controling our politics.

La Raza's president, Janet Murguía, is an immigrant, she takesa fact goes to great lenghts to hide.

In other words, La Raza is not the voice of native born Mexican Americans as many believe; and perhaps more importantly, La Raza's awesome political power will be the political power of the third world illegal, 20 million law-breakers to be exact.

And then there's the litnany of demands La Raza immediately presents to America the instant the 20 million are given citizenship.

Expect biliqual education to become the law of the land. The 20 million will demand all government literiture be produced in Spanish.

Expect seperate schools for the children of the 20 million. This sort of thing has been going on in Miami for decades for the children of Miami Cubans.

Expect new curriculum and texts in the classroom emphasizing Mexican History while rewriting incidents like the Alamo and Pancho Villa.

Affirmative Action? You betcha.

Look forward to a relative at the Post Office losing his job to a Mexican, who, according to your relative, speaks almost no English.

The list goes on and on...

La Raza thinks your "diversity" and "melting pot" slogans are weak-minded and ridiculous.

You may take these platitudes seriously; they don't.

Gary Lloyd 3/9/10

[Matthew Kolken]

11:31 AM on 03/09/2010

Meeting delayed.

[americanalien]

10:56 AM on 03/09/2010

I applaud President Obama for taking on these bold challenges. Immigration and Health Care Reform are two of the most contentious issues in American politics. Few Presidents have dared to touch them in the past. The fact that President Obama is willing to take on both issues shows just what a brave and courageous leader he is. Ignoring these issues would be the politically expedient thing to do. It's very easy to accept the status quo than implement major change. I am glad that we finally have a President who has the guts to push for these changes. This is the essence of true leadership.

[Gary Lloyd]

11:07 PM on 03/08/2010

I should say I lived in Mexican for six months and was treated like a king,

Mexicans are very gracious people

... still...

[insideJoe]

04:18 PM on 03/08/2010

Can someone tell Barack it's the economy, stupid! Worry about that then health care and immigration reform.

[Gary Lloyd]

02:56 AM on 03/08/2010

Our friend likes to hold debates with himself.

Perhaps that's because those are the only debates he can win.

I simply pointed out the GOP is crafting a bill that strips citizenship from i anchor babies.

No offense intended, Paolito, but where you an anchor baby?

[BigSlick674]

04:54 AM on 03/08/2010

LOL - I fanned you, but not the way you might think.

You really need to stop calling people Paco and Paolito in an attempt to make racial slurs. You see, one is Spanish, and the other is Italian....Gary.

Now here's how you get fanned, Gary.

One, the GOP will never get that bill off the ground, especially the part that tries to revoke citizens rights retroactively for those born in the USA. Especially when many are small children and infants, Gary.

Two, your arguments are at a complete loss to defend against mine, Gary.

You fail to provide any proper citations for your claims, Gary. You ignorantly comment on articles I have provided, pretending to have read them when you have not, Gary. The fundamentals of your arguments are so obviously flawed it makes calling this a debate with you a complete joke, Gary.

You introduce the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and then go on to cite a misinterpretation by a now-defunct hate-group!!! C'mon, GARY!!!

Three, I told you I am a US-born in an earlier post that you responded to, so you better slow down on the pipe, Gayr.

There, three strikes, you are OUT! Fanned, so to speak!

You have been SCHOOLED, Gary.

ROFLMAO@GaryLloyd!!!!!

[Gary Lloyd]

09:45 AM on 03/08/2010

Stop all the drama, fella, and get back on topic...

The problem with you La Raza fellows is you don't present the whole picture. You're advocates for the 20 million illegals, not impartial observers like ... ahem, me.

Your arguments and analysis is dedicated to promoting your agenda, not expose the truth.

But the truth is this: even legal immigration is way out of hand. In fact, if "legal immigration continues at the record-breaking rates Congress has mandated we'll be in deep trouble by it alone.

Which brings us to illegal immigration....

Twenty million people is like having twenty years of legal immigration dropped on us in one full swoop.

You and your pals at La Raza tell us they're good people, they pay they way, and in the main, that's probably true. But that is not the truth. The truth is the impact of 20 million instant immigrants tears apart the 5, 10, 15, and 20 year plans every jurisdiction in this country has.

In the space of five years in Nashville, traffic has turned from pleasant to horrible.
Three-way highways are wholly inadequate. Look to the left and right and what do you see? An illegal behind the wheel.

Schools are so overcrowded trailers are used for classrooms. Health clinics are packed to the rafters with illegals and their anchor babies. Meanwhile, none of this is of any concern to the illegals or the people who support them. Their attitude?

"It ain't my job, man."

[BigSlick674]

12:16 AM on 03/08/2010

Sorry, you again twist the truth. The fact is, these babies are citizens.

They are not illegals. Nor are the offspring of these babies.

If you want to go retroactive on this, then let's go all the way back to 1780 and then I gues you'll be filing an address change to another continent where the parents of the "anchor baby" who secured YOUR citizenship came from , ay?

Adios!

[Gary Lloyd]

01:36 AM on 03/08/2010

What...?

1780s...?

Get a grip, man.

[BigSlick674]

03:06 AM on 03/08/2010

See, that's exactly how normal folks react to you wanting to add language to the 14th Amendment without due process, which requires 67 Senators and the POTUS to sign off. So if you are going to trash the Constitution, let's roll back immigration rights to 1780! Do it all the way! We can repatriate you to your country of ancestral origin too!

According to the 14th Amendment, anyone born in the USA is a citizen, period. Your arguments based on an interpretation by D. A. King and a failed defunct quasi-racist organization like The American Resistance Foundation have no bearing whatsoever.

You have not only proposed shipping US citizens to Mexico in violation of their Constitutional Rights, but many citizens who are children that have never been to that country in their lives.

Shame on you.

[Gary Lloyd]

12:11 AM on 03/08/2010

Consider this:

"The original intent of the 14th Amendment was clearly not to facilitate illegal aliens defying U.S. law at taxpayer expense. Current estimates indicate there may be over 300,000 anchor babies born each year in the U.S., thus causing illegal alien mothers to add more to the U.S. population each year than immigration from all sources in an average year before 1965. "

http://www.theamericanresistance.com/issues/anchor_babies.html

Of course Sen. Schumer and La Raza don't worry about things like the above, but sensible citizens concerned about the world their children and grandchildren will live in must.

Illegal aliens are criminals; anchor babies the profit of their crime, a profit that in time (18 years) results in a horrendous spate of chain-migration.

Again, Schumer and La Raza are not looking ahead.

I am.

[BigSlick674]

12:41 AM on 03/08/2010

Gary, I again point out that you have zero credibility, and this is part of why.

http://www.topix.com/member/profile/garylloyd

Nice pic. Isn't that illegal?

[Gary Lloyd]

01:39 AM on 03/08/2010

When done responsibly, smoking crack is no more harmful than smoking meth.

[BigSlick674]

12:09 AM on 03/08/2010

This ends my discussions with Gary the extremist idealogue and proven liar.

There is no reason to believe anything he says, even his claims of ethnicity, which is in any case an argumentative headfake he uses for race-baiting only.

The cornerstone of his very flawed arguments is simply that he is afraid the GOP will be disadvantaged if any of the 20 million illegal workers from Mexico are granted a path to citizenship.....

While Gary makes himself miserable chasing waterfalls in a sewerpipe of racism, I will be embracing the cultural and economic contributions that will come from legislation that finally recognizes the realities of immigration across our southern borders. I look forward to the creation of a fair and legal system to formalize that reality's rightful place as a part of the American Dream.

[Gary Lloyd]

12:19 AM on 03/08/2010

Nice Fourth of July Speech, BigSlick.

Look, this isn't rocket science ...

You want to pack everybody into the boat and that shows you have a lot of love.

Not a lot of sense, but a lot of love.

[BigSlick674]

01:13 AM on 03/08/2010

Shindig! 1965!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMS2uMUQNnQ

[ChicagoSuz]

03:49 AM on 03/08/2010

Just fanned you!

[BigSlick674]

11:19 PM on 03/07/2010

Gary said:

“Here's why Schumer's Amnesty bill will fail:

20 million new democratic voters.

In other words, if the GOP allows this bill, it signs its own death warrant.”

The above is the only honest talking point Gary has raised. The GOP and its sycophants - Gary included - are ONLY fearful of any increase in Democratic Party votes that might be represented by any path to legal stay/legal return.

I have good news for the GOP - the path to citizenship is not what an estimated 70% of illegal Mexican workers seek. The average Mexican laborer in the USA returns to Mexico, and is only here for a 5 to 10 year stay.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=949632

They are already here and working without citizenship. Schumer's bill is by no means a blanket amnesty, and even if it were, the average Mexican worker does not SEEK amnesty even if offered.

Your fear-mongering has no base, there is no "instant immigration" of 20 million (they are ALREADY HERE!) and the temporary workforce is already operating as a naturally-evolving vibrant sector of our economy and culture.

Get over it. Migrants have been coming and going for longer than you've been alive, and will continue to do so, and some will decide to stay.

You have to face that reality. Deal with it.

[ChicagoSuz]

11:13 PM on 03/07/2010

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

~Niemoller

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...

[Gary Lloyd]

11:24 PM on 03/07/2010

It's generally agreed when someone introduces Nazis into the debate, that person is running out of ideas.

...Assuming she had any to begin with.

[Gary Lloyd]

10:35 PM on 03/07/2010

Look, we all know (or should) La Raza is funded by Mexican drug cartals. The country has already been divided-up into political districts. Illegals are being directed to jurisdictions where their vote (once amnesty becomes law) will put a Mexican-American candidate over-the-top.

And anyone who doubts why "fear of Hispanics" makes sense only need to look to Miami.

Forty years ago blacks monopolized every unskilled job in the city. Today, illegals do. Does a hotel maid or porter have to be "bilingual"? If not, explain why virtually every ad for maids require they be "bilingual."

Thirty years ago blacks in Miami were moving up the ladder in local civil service. Today every civil service manager and supervisor in Miami is a Miami Cuban -- many of whom don't speak English.

This is no exaggeration. I asked to speak to a supervisor and they bring out a 50-year-old woman who couldn't have been in the country more than a year or two. She didn't speak a word of English. Apparently, she was somebody's Aunt from Havana.

Where are the blacks? Pushed out.

In the 1960s we were letting in 600,000 immigrants a year, and that was a good number; it allowed our population to stabilize. One million a year, (legal) doesn't. Twenty million in one year (illegal) takes our 20 year plans and throws them out the window.

Fear of Hispanics?

You bet your tacos I fear them.

[BigSlick674]

10:46 PM on 03/07/2010

Gary Lloyd I'm a Fan of Gary Lloyd I'm a fan of this user 11 fans permalink
Look, we all know (or should) La Raza is funded by Mexican drug cartals. The country has already been divided-up into political districts. Illegals are being directed to jurisdictions where their vote (once amnesty becomes law) will put a Mexican-American candidate over-the-top.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You are nothing but an extremist conspiracy mongerer until you provide solid evidence of what you claim. Your videos and rants have no factual basis and at the very best are repetitive rhetoric.

As one who knows that your claims are unfounded, I say YOU are the one who threatens others - but rather than fear you, I simply have pity.

[Gary Lloyd]

11:18 PM on 03/07/2010

Be specific.

I made several claims.

For example, a sensible immigration rate is one that allows the population to stabilize. We had that in the 1960s when the limit was 650,000 immigrants a year.

Today we've pushed that limit to 1.5 million a year.

But that's just the half of it...

The 20 million illegals the Census doesn't count places a monstrous burden on our public services and infrastructure, but no jurisdiction is budgeted for them because these people were never counted or projected in the Census.

Federal public works funding are linked to the Census. Illegals increase the population in Nashville 30%, but we don't get an additional nickel in funding for them.

Politicians like Obama and Schumer are blissfully unaware of this side of the equation. Their promises and platitudes are going to turn this place into a third world country.

[BigSlick674]

01:39 AM on 03/08/2010

This is what you should really be afraid of.

http://www.myspaceantics.com/images/myspace-graphics/funny-pictures/no-illegals-no-burritos.jpg

You wanna take that risk?

[ChicagoSuz]

10:35 PM on 03/07/2010

The previous comment was meant for Tony. When I hit 'reply' it marked it as favorite... ??