Penn Station: Obama's immigration stance

Have you ever wondered exactly what Sen. Barack Obama's stance on legal and illegal immigration is?
At the Unity: Journalists of Color convention last week in Chicago, Obama laid much of it out in detail.
And as far as the senator is concerned, there's nothing wrong with the large numbers of people around the world wanting to immigrate to the United States. The problem is America has an illegal immigration system that runs parallel to a legal one, he said.
As a result, Obama is a major proponent of sweeping immigration reform.
"We are a nation of immigrants and we are nation of laws," Obama told the audience of journalists. "The problem that I see isn't the number of immigrants that are coming. We are actually advantaged by the number of immigrants coming. The fact that we're getting people who still want to come to this country and live out the American dream, that's all good."
But Obama said reforming the immigration process and making it more fair is a must.
"That means cracking down on employers who are hiring undocumented workers and only paying them minimum wage and not paying them overtime," Obama said. "We need adequate border security. We need to provide a pathway for citizenship for those undocumented workers who are here who have put down roots. We need to get them out of the shadows. They'll have to pay a fine. They'll have to learn English. But let's give them an avenue to become fully part of the American society."
Any comprehensive immigration reform also must examine and reform the legal system, he said.
"We have to make sure we have a realistic approach," Obama said. "Frankly, we are probably underrepresented when it comes to immigrants from certain parts of the world. It's harder for Haitians to immigrate than it is for persons from other countries in some cases. That's something we need to prevent."
Obama still needs to give us more details on his approach to immigration reform. As president, he'd be responsible for providing the leadership and direction on the issue.
But whatever his plan ultimately would look like, it will be viewed as controversial. Obama must avoid the temptation to lean too far to the right on immigration, especially if he plans on counting on the much needed Hispanic vote in November.

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