President Barack Obama’s domestic policy advisor has stated that she does not expect a vote on immigration reform legislation to take place in the House of Representatives until at least October.
Earlier this year, the US Senate passed a bipartisan bill which would lead to the biggest reform of America’s immigration system in more than 30 years. However, some Republican leaders in the House – which would also have to pass the immigration legislation before it became law – are not so keen on the bill, particularly on the proposals to offer a path to citizenship to America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
President Obama had hoped to have a positive outcome to the immigration debate in place by the end of this month, but during an interview with Fox News Latino, his policy director Cecilia Muñoz conceded that significant movement on an immigration reform measure, or measures, was unlikely to happen before October.
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“We would like a debate on the House floor,” she said. “We think there’s bipartisan support for a reform bill.”
Muñoz used the 50th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington, to liken the importance of that event, which culminated in Dr Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, with passing immigration reform.
“Today is about celebrating how far we’ve come and recommitting to the work that is ahead,” she said. “Just as the civil rights movement of the 1960s addressed jobs, so does immigration reform today.
“Immigration reform is just one piece of the agenda,” Muñoz continued. “We can now quantify what it means for creating jobs, not just for immigrants, but for the rest of us.”