Did President Obama’s speech provide clues to his vision for Immigration Reform?

Posted by Harsharn Makkar

The answer depends on each’s interpretation.  However, the President did comment on who has to be held accountable: the Government, the Employers who hire illegal workers, and the illegal immigrants themselves.  He mentioned that the system is broken since it does not encourage students graduating from our own schools to work here; consequently, we train our competition.  He also discussed that undocumented workers continue to risk their lives because the demand exists.  Thus, the employers who exploit these workers must be held accountable if Immigration Reform is going to work.  Finally, he talked about requiring illegal immigrants to be held accountable for their actions as well so we do not encourage another wave of illegal immigrants.  He did not say that he is for Amnesty.  However, he did remark that it is not practical to round up 11 million undocumented aliens and deport them.  Whether those comments translates into Amnesty remains to be seen.