Jun 30, 2014

Obama prods Congress on immigration reform

President Barack Obama is no longer relying on Congress to fix America’s “broken” immigration system. Starting today, he’s doing as much as he can on his own, directing federal agencies to move as many resources as possible to the U.S. border and directing Attorney General Eric Holder to identify other actions the executive branch can legally take without Congressional help.

“I expect the recommendations by the end of summer, and I intend to adopt them without further delay,” Obama said during a press conference at the White House.

Obama’s new policy is in response to the failure of the House of Representatives to vote on the “commonsense” immigration bill that passed the Senate in June 2013 – or to pass any immigration legislation at all. Meanwhile, there’s now a “humanitarian crisis” on the U.S./Mexico border, with a “surge” of children being apprehended and brought into the United States by smugglers and traffickers, he said.

“I don’t prefer taking administrative action,” he said. “I’d rather see permanent fixes. I take executive action only when we have a serious problem and Congress chooses to do nothing.”

Most Americans – including a unique coalition of labor, business, evangelical, law enforcement and other groups – support immigration reform, and they need to continue to push Congress for a more permanent solution, Obama said. As president, he’ll take what steps he can, but whenever Congress is ready to work with him they’ll find a willing partner, he said.

“Administrative action alone will not address the problem,” he said. “It still requires an act of Congress.

“I’ll work with them even on a bill I don’t consider perfect.”

In response to Obama’s announcement, United Fresh president and CEO Tom Stenzel issued the following statement.

“We appreciate President Obama’s commitment to try to address our broken immigration policy through executive action, but urge the House of Representatives not to abandon their responsibility to address this serious issue. The House needs only to bring reform proposals to the floor for members to debate, revise and pass as they see fit. This would allow the House and Senate to work out their differences and craft a compromise, which is the way Congress is supposed to work. If the House continues to disregard its responsibility to address this issue, the produce industry has no choice but to work with the administration on short-term administrative patches that will be appreciated, but are ultimately unsatisfactory. Our industry is committed to providing Americans with an abundant supply of nutritious, healthy produce essential to their physical well-being. But it is a basic fact that we face a declining and inadequate workforce to harvest and distribute U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables.

“Congressional inaction on immigration reform is driving fruit and vegetable production out of the United States, costing U.S. consumers and farmers millions of dollars, and eliminating jobs across the produce supply chain,”Stenzel said. “United Fresh remains committed to working with any member of Congress – and the administration – to drive meaningful immigration reform.”

– Matt Milkovich