Barack Obama believes the country badly needs comprehensive immigration reform that offers a "path to legalization" for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. He believes that path should include certain conditions, including learning English and paying a fine. Obama also supports border security measures such as increased Border Patrol, fencing, and technological surveillance, and workplace enforcement. Obama has said that workplace enforcement must be combined with legalization and labor rights. He has also criticized rhetoric that demeans immigrants. On guestworker programs, Obama states that the jobs must first be offered to U.S. citizens at a decent wage.

General position

• "What we have to do is create a comprehensive solution to the problem. As president I will make sure that we finally have the kind of border security that we need. Employers have to be held accountable. When we do those things, we can take the illegal aliens who are here, get them out of the shadows, make sure that they are subject to a stiff penalty, make sure that they're learning English, and go to the back of the line so they're not getting an advantage over people who came here legally."

• "We've got to fix a broken immigration system not just for the undocumented but for legal immigrants. Because the backlogs are horrendous, the fees have been increased and doubled and tripled, and as a consequence more and more people are having difficulty just trying to reunify their families even if they're going through the legal pathways, and that puts more pressure on people to go into the illegal system. That is something we're going to try to pass."

• "I think it's possible for us to be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. That's what we've always been and that's what we have to continue to be. And that's why I've worked in the Senate and will work hard as president to make sure that we've got comprehensive immigration reform that has strong border security. We need to make sure that it's orderly, that we don't have thousands of people pouring over our borders or overstaying our visas."

Path to legalization

• Immigrants rights rally, San Francisco. © Independent Media Center / Liz Highleyman "We want to have a situation in which those who are already here, are playing by the rules, are willing to pay a fine, and go through a rigorous process should have a pathway to legalization. Most Americans will support that if they have some sense that the border is also being secured. What they don't want is a situation in which there is a pathway to legalization and you've got another several hundred thousand of folks coming in every year. That is a central position we should be able to arrive at."

  Employment

  • "I think that if they are illegal, then they should not be able to work in this country. That is part of the principle of comprehensive reform, which we're going to crack down on employers who are hiring them and taking advantage of them. But I also want to give them a pathway, so that they can earn citizenship, earn a legal status, start learning English, pay a significant fine, and go to the back of the line. But they can then stay here and they can have the ability to enforce a minimum wage that they're paid, make sure the worker safety laws are available, make sure that they can join a union."

  • "We have to make sure that employers are held accountable, because right now employers are taking advantage of undocumented workers. And we've got to give a pathway to citizenship. But people have to earn it. They're going to have to pay a fine. They've got to make sure that they're learning English. They've got to go to the back of the line so that they're not rewarded for having broken the law."

  Federal control over immigration

  • "We do not deputize the American people to do the job that the federal government is supposed to do. So as president, I will make sure that the federal government does what it's supposed to do, which is to do a better job of closing our borders, have much tougher enforcement standards when it comes to employers, and create a pathway of citizenship for the 12 million people who are already here."

  • Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.

  English as "official language"

  • "Because there are Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens who may not speak English well, and if they're seeking help, for example, on some vital health care question, or a senior citizen who emigrated here a long time ago and they're trying to get their Social Security check, I don't want them to not be able to get those services."

  Guestworker programs

  • "Before any guestworker is hired, the job must be made available to Americans at a decent wage with benefits. Employers then need to show that there are no Americans to take these jobs. I am not willing to take it on faith that there are jobs that Americans will not take. There has to be a showing. If this guestworker program is to succeed, it must be properly calibrated to make certain that these are jobs that cannot be filled by Americans, or that the guestworkers provide particular skills we can't find in this country."

  Driver's licenses

  • "There is a public safety concern [with denying driver's licenses to illegal immigrants]. We can make sure that drivers who are illegal come out of the shadows, that they can be tracked, that they are properly trained, and that will make our roads safer. That doesn't negate the need for us to reform illegal immigration."

  • "When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention. The problem we have here is not driver's licenses. Undocumented workers do not come here to drive. They're here to work. Instead of being distracted by what has now become a wedge issue, let's focus on actually solving the problem that this administration, the Bush administration, had done nothing about it."

  The Senate Immigration Bill

  • Senator Obama played a role in drafting the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed before the 109th Congress adjourned. The bill, which President Bush supports, would provide more funds and technology for border security and prevent employers from skirting our laws by hiring illegal immigrants. The bill also would provide immigrants who are now contributing, responsible members of society an opportunity to remain in the country and earn citizenship. But not all illegal immigrants would be guaranteed the right to remain in the U.S. under this proposal: they would first have to pay a substantial fine and back taxes, learn English, satisfy a work requirement, and pass a criminal background check.

  • Obama offered three amendments that were included in the Senate bill. The first amendment would strengthen the requirement that a job be offered at a prevailing wage to American workers before it is offered to a guestworker. The second amendment would make it simple, but mandatory, for employers to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. And the third amendment would authorize $3 million a year for the FBI to improve the speed and accuracy of the background checks required for immigrants seeking to become citizens.

  Sources:
  Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nov. 15, 2007
  Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish Sept. 9, 2007
  AFL-CIO Democratic primary forum Aug. 8, 2007
  Democratic debate at Saint Anselm College June 3, 2007
  2007 Democratic radio debate on NPR Dec. 4, 2007
  Democratic radio debate on NPR Dec. 4, 2007
  Democratic debate at Drexel University Oct. 30, 2007
  http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Immigration.htm
  http://www.barackobama.com/issues/immigration/
  
  From Americas Policy Program