Barack Obama Quotes About Immigration

• In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

  Barack Obama

  Country, War, Mean

• I think the American people have a generous instinct. They understand that we're a nation of immigrants. But if those folks are going to live in this country, they have to be put on a pathway to citizenship that involves them paying a fine, making sure that they are at the back of the line and not cutting in front of people who applied legally to come into the country.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Cutting, Thinking

• Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity, until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Opportunity, Journey

  Second Presidential Inaugural Address, delivered 21 January 2013, Washington, D.C.

• If it is orderly and lawful, immigration is good for our economy.

  Barack Obama

  Immigration, Economy, Orderly

  "President Obama’s first press conference of the Trump era, annotated". www.washingtonpost.com. November 14, 2016.

• The system isn't working when 12 million people live in hiding, and hundreds of thousands cross our borders illegally each year; when companies hire undocumented immigrants instead of legal citizens to avoid paying overtime or to avoid a union; when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids -- when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel. When all that's happening, the system just isn't working.

  Barack Obama

  Mother, Baby, Children

  Barack Obama's Addresse to the National Council of La Raza, www.washingtonpost.com. July 15, 2008.

• Now, I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books... Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own... Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. But that's not how - that's not how our system works. That's not how our democracy functions. Thats not how our Constitution is written.

  Barack Obama

  Believe, Book, Law

  President Barack Obama's remarks to the National Council of La Raza, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. July 25, 2011.

• Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: 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 businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let's get immigration reform done this year.

  Barack Obama

  Dream, Country, Jobs

  Fifth Presidential State of the Union, delivered 28 January 2014

• When it comes to immigration, I have actually put more money, under my administration, into border security than any other administration previously. We've got more security resources at the border - more National Guard, more border guards, you name it - than the previous administration. So we've ramped up significantly the issue of border security.

  Barack Obama

  Names, Issues, Immigration

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• For all the noise and anger that too often surrounds the immigration debate, America has nothing to fear from today's immigrants. They have come here for the same reason that families have always come here-for the hope that in America, they could build a better life for themselves and their families. Like the waves of immigrants that came before them and the Hispanic Americans whose families have been here for generations, the recent arrival of Latino immigrants will only enrich our country.

  Barack Obama

  Country, America, Immigration

  Barack Obama's Remarks to NALEO, www.realclearpolitics.com. June 28, 2008.

• If we are going to solve the challenges we face, you need a President who will pursue genuine solutions day in and day out. And that is my commitment to you. We need immigration reform that will secure our borders, and punish employers who exploit immigrant labor; reform that finally brings the 12 million people who are here illegally out of the shadows by requiring them to take steps to become legal citizens. We must assert our values and reconcile our principles as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. That is a priority I will pursue from my very first day.

  Barack Obama

  Commitment, Law, People

  Barack Obama's Remarks to NALEO, www.realclearpolitics.com. June 28, 2008.

• The time to fix our broken immigration system is now... We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace... But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America... Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should.

  Barack Obama

  Skills, America, People

• I marched with you in the streets of Chicago to meet our immigration challenge. I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as President.

  Barack Obama

  Years, Priorities, Challenges

  Barack Obama's Address to the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington D.C., www.washingtonpost.com. July 8, 2008.

• We have to stand up for these issues when it's tough, and that's what I've done. I did it when I was in the state legislature, sponsoring the Illinois version of the DREAM Act, so that children who were brought here through no fault of their own are able to go to college, because we actually want well-educated kids in our country who are able to succeed and become part of this economy and part of the American dream.

  Barack Obama

  Dream, Country, Children

  The California Democratic Debate in Los Angeles, www.realclearpolitics.com. January 31, 2008.

• We do need to make sure that we have an orderly, lawful immigration process.

  Barack Obama

  Immigration, Needs, Process

  "President Barack Obama Holds a News Conference", ye.usembassy.gov. November 14, 2016.

• I do not want two classes of citizens in this country. I want everybody to prosper. That's going to be a top priority.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Class, Two

  Democratic Debate in Austin, Tex., www.nytimes.com. February 21, 2008.

• Estiven Rodriguez couldn't speak a word of English when he moved to New York City at age nine. But last month, thanks to the support of great teachers and an innovative tutoring program, he led a march of his classmates - through a crowd of cheering parents and neighbors - from their high school to the post office, where they mailed off their college applications. And this son of a factory worker just found out he's going to college this fall.

  Barack Obama

  Teacher, New York, Cheer

  Fifth Presidential State of the Union, delivered 28 January 2014

• Number one, it is absolutely critical that we tone down the rhetoric when it comes to the immigration debate, because there has been an undertone that has been ugly. Oftentimes, it has been directed at the Hispanic community. We have seen hate crimes skyrocket in the wake of the immigration debate as it has been conducted in Washington, and that is unacceptable.

  Barack Obama

  Hate, Numbers, Community

  Democratic Debate in Austin, Tex., www.nytimes.com. February 21, 2008.

• Number one, it is important that we fix the legal immigration system, because right now we've got a backlog that means years for people to apply legally. And what's worse is, we keep on increasing the fees, so that if you've got a hard working immigrant family, they've got to hire a lawyer; they've got to pay thousands of dollars in fees. They just can't afford it. And it's discriminatory against people who have good character, we should want in this country, but don't have the money. So we've got to fix that.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Character, Mean

  Transcript: Democratic debate in Austin, Texas, www.nytimes.com. December 2, 2008.

• America is a nation of immigrants. And so the question is, how do we make legal immigration faster, less bureaucratic, cut the red tape?

  Barack Obama

  Cutting, America, Immigration

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• Going back to the discussion we were having about immigration reform, some of the most challenging discussions I've had are with activists who essentially would argue that any immigrant from Central America, let's say, who gets here to this country should be allowed to stay because their country is dangerous, their country is poor, and the opportunities for that mom and that kid are much greater here, and why would you send them back?

  Barack Obama

  Mom, Country, Kids

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• In November [2016], Americans are gonna have to make a decision about what we care about and who we are. We get these spasms of politics around immigration and fearmongering and then our traditions and our history and our better impulses kick in. That's how we all ended up here. 'Cause I guarantee you at some point every one of us has somebody in our background who people didn't want coming here. And yet here we are.

  Barack Obama

  People, Decision, Immigration

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

• When we think about immigration, we have to understand there are folks all around the world who still see America as the land of promise. And they provide us energy, and they provide us innovation. And they start companies like Intel and Google, and we want to encourage that.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, America, Land

  The second presidential debate at Hofstra University, www.democracynow.org. October 17, 2012.

• When we were working on immigration reform and there was a young Latino man, young immigration activist here who, in the Roosevelt Room, refused to shake my hand.He made a point of saying, "I can't shake your hand; you're deporting too many people." And I just said to him, "Young man, I'm glad that you feel so passionately about this issue, but you're with the president right now in the White House. You've got to think about what's going to be most effective in getting what you need, what you're trying to accomplish. Because this may not be your best strategy."

  Barack Obama

  Men, Thinking, White

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Enforcement priorities developed by my administration are not affected by this ruling. This means that the people who might have benefited from the expanded deferred action policies, long-term residents raising children who are Americans or legal residents, they will remain low priorities for enforcement, as long as you have not committed a crime, our limited immigration enforcement resources are not focused on you.

  Barack Obama

  Children, Mean, Long

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

• We wouldn't even be where we are had it not been that 70% of Hispanics voted for President Obama, voted Democratic in the last election. That caused an epiphany in the Senate, that's for sure. So all of a sudden we have already passed comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. That's a big victory.

  Barack Obama

  Victory, President, Immigration

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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