Obama Affirms Commitment to Immigration Overhaul (Update3)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-19/obama-affirms-commitment-to-immigration-overhaul-update3-.html

(Updates with agreement on oil exploration in 17th paragraph, trucking dispute in 18th, other events during state visit in 21st.)

By Nicholas Johnston and Roger Runningen

May 19 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said tightening border security and revamping immigration laws are vital to economic growth in the U.S. and Mexico, as he pledged to “aggressively” pursue cross-border cooperation.

Obama, at a joint news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, said the U.S. government hasn’t done enough to address frustration with “a broken immigration system” that has boiled over with steps by states such as Arizona to act on their own. That threatens to disrupt U.S.-Mexico commerce, he said.

“Our shared border must be an engine, not a brake, on our economic growth,” Obama said at the White House. “We’ve got to control the borders, but do so in a way that does not have an adverse impact on the economies of those regions.”

The U.S. president welcomed Calderon today for a formal state visit intended to demonstrate the close relationship between the two countries. Mexico is the second-largest source of imported oil for the U.S. and is the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner after Canada and China. Goods worth $305.5 billion flowed between the two nations in 2009, Census Bureau figures show.

While the agenda for Obama and Calderon included trade, climate change and energy development, border issues dominated their public remarks, including U.S. immigration law and the threat posed by increasingly violent drug cartels.

Arizona Law

Obama and Calderon both were critical of a law recently signed by Arizona’s governor requiring local police to check immigration status of people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Obama said it was an outgrowth of frustration over the failure of Congress to overhaul the immigration system and modernize border security.

“I’m sympathetic to those frustrations, I share those frustrations,” Obama said. “We have a responsibility to create an orderly border.”

Calderon said his government is “firmly” opposed to Arizona’s actions. The U.S. has a right to establish whatever laws it sees fit, he said.

“But we will retain our firm rejection to criminalize migration so that people that work and provide things to this nation will be treated as criminals,” Calderon said.

Immigrants in U.S.

About 10 percent of U.S. citizens are of Mexican descent and a majority of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally are from Mexico, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

Obama has called on Congress to begin work this year on an immigration overhaul that would bolster border security and provide a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. Congressional efforts in 2007 to pass immigration legislation failed due to disagreements over how to treat people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Obama today called on Republicans to support his efforts on legislation that includes a way for immigrants in the U.S. to stay legally if they pay their taxes and learn English.

“I have confidence I can get the majority of Democrats both in the House and Senate to support a piece of legislation,” he said. “I’ve got to have some support from Republicans.”

The nation’s immigration debate was reignited this year with passage of the Arizona law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and grants new power to local police officers on immigration matters.

‘Make Some Decisions’

Obama said he has instructed the Department of Justice to examine the law and that after receiving a report his administration will “make some decisions.”

Obama and Calderon also pledged to continue steps to reduce violence along the Mexican side of the 2,000-mile border. More than 22,000 Mexicans have been killed throughout the country in almost four years of battles among drug cartels and with police.

Calderon said Mexico will put more resources into curbing the flow of drugs and stemming violence in the border area.

“We want to make this quite clear: We, both countries, want to have a safe border,” Calderon said.

The two presidents agreed to seek a moratorium on oil production activities in the western Gulf of Mexico in light of the BP Plc drilling accident off the coast of Louisiana that has spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf since April 20.

Mexican Trucks

No agreement was announced by the two countries on allowing Mexican trucks into the U.S. as required under provisions of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

Calderon said resolving the dispute, which began in 2009 when the U.S. Congress ended a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to deliver goods in the U.S., is vital to trade between the two countries.

“We continue to work to solve this quickly,” Calderon said.

After a welcome ceremony in the morning, Obama and Calderon met at the White House for almost two hours before the press conference. During his two-day stay in Washington, Calderon will also address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today and the U.S. Congress tomorrow.

Tonight Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala, will be the guests of honor for the second state dinner of Obama’s presidency. Obama has visited Calderon in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

“We’re looking forward to returning the hospitality, the wonderful hospitality, that we received in Mexico,” Obama said today.

–With assistance from Kate Andersen Brower, Andres R. Martinez and Julianna Goldman in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Bob Drummond.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at +1-202-654-1264or njohnston6@bloomberg.net; Roger Runningen in Washington at +1= rrunningen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mike Tackett at mtackett@bloomberg.net.

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