President Obama renewed his commitment to immigration reform in his State of the Union on January 28, 2014.
President Obama tied the need for reform to economic growth in the country and referred to economic studies showing that immigration reform would “grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades.” President Obama added, “when people come here to fulfill their dreams – to study, invent and contribute to our culture – they make our country a more attractive place for business to locate and create jobs for everyone.”
Although he urged Congress to “fix our broken immigration system,” President Obama did not specifically address the question of pathways to legal status for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. Obama’s choice of words was a way to avoid making specific demands on Republicans. Instead, the President emphasized that immigration reform remained a bipartisan issue. We hope that President Obama’s careful rhetoric will lead to comprehensive immigration reform in 2014.