President Obama continues to be frustrated by the endless delays in Congress when it comes to immigration reform in the United States, pointing to the executive action he took last year in what he hoped would be the first step to more comprehensive and binding reform legislation.
The president says that there are a number of Republican Party members in Congress who do want to press ahead with immigration reform, making the legal immigration system more streamlined and increasing border security; however, he noted that the way to achieve these things is to be practical and realistic and offer paths to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
Obama also took the time to point out some pertinent facts about border security and the level of immigration in general, noting that the border already comes with a greater number of police and financial resources than has been the case for the last 30 to 40 years and that the amount of undocumented immigrants entering the United States is lower than at any time since the 1970s.
“You have to describe specifically what are the concerns that you’ve got,” Obama advised his political opponents. “If you’re concerned that somehow illegal immigrants are a drain on resources and forcing, you know, Americans to pay for service for these folks, well, every study shows that’s just not the case.”