Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration
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작성자 관리자 작성일작성일 11-03-23 수정일수정일 70-01-01 조회8,241회관련링크
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<Stephen Crowley/The New York Times/President Obama was greeted Tuesday by schoolchildren in San Salvador, where he ended a three-nation Latin American tour.>
Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration
By JACKIE CALMES
President Obama ended his three-nation Latin American tour on Tuesday with a visit to El Salvador, a source of one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, and agreed with its president that “the best strategy” for curbing illegal immigration was to create economic growth in the region.
Mr. Obama, in a private meeting and a subsequent news conference with El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, said he remained committed to seeking a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law that both enhances American border security and provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived for years in the United States and have jobs and families.
But that legislative goal, which Mr. Obama shelved in his first two years in office as he focused on the economy and overhauling the health-insurance system, is moribund now that Republicans, who oppose a citizenship process, have taken control of the House. In the news conference, Mr. Obama noted that some Republicans, including his 2008 presidential rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, previously supported a comprehensive approach.
“My hope,” he said, “is that they begin to recognize over the next year that we can’t solve this problem without taking a broad, comprehensive approach” — a prospect that is not considered at all likely as the 2012 elections approach. “The politics of this are difficult,” Mr. Obama conceded, “but ultimately I am confident that we are going to get it done.”
Mr. Obama, summarizing the leaders’ private meeting, said, “President Funes is committed to creating more economic opportunities here in El Salvador so that people don’t feel like they have to head north to provide for their families,” or “join a criminal drug network” in order to stay in the country.
But unlike in Brazil and Chile, Mr. Obama’s first two stops and countries with growing economies, El Salvador has had low rates of economic growth in the past decade and drug-related crime has flourished. The two presidents outlined ways in which El Salvador and the United States were working as partners with other nations in the hemisphere — from Canada to Chile — to address drug trafficking and economic development, including by involving the private sector in job-creation efforts.
It is estimated that more than two million people from El Salvador are now in the United States, legally and illegally. That is equal to about a third of this country’s current population, underscoring the scale of migration north in the three decades since the civil war of the 1980s began here, a conflict in which the United States backed the rightist government against the leftist rebels.
Before an official dinner, Mr. Obama visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which holds the tomb of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 and is now a national hero.
Mr. Obama had planned to visit the crypt on Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary of the assassination, but moved it up so he could return to Washington a couple of hours earlier. He will return to the United States after a conference call with his national security team about the conflict in Libya, which has overshadowed the trip to Latin America.
<The New York Times>,2011/03/22
Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration
By JACKIE CALMES
President Obama ended his three-nation Latin American tour on Tuesday with a visit to El Salvador, a source of one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, and agreed with its president that “the best strategy” for curbing illegal immigration was to create economic growth in the region.
Mr. Obama, in a private meeting and a subsequent news conference with El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, said he remained committed to seeking a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law that both enhances American border security and provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived for years in the United States and have jobs and families.
But that legislative goal, which Mr. Obama shelved in his first two years in office as he focused on the economy and overhauling the health-insurance system, is moribund now that Republicans, who oppose a citizenship process, have taken control of the House. In the news conference, Mr. Obama noted that some Republicans, including his 2008 presidential rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, previously supported a comprehensive approach.
“My hope,” he said, “is that they begin to recognize over the next year that we can’t solve this problem without taking a broad, comprehensive approach” — a prospect that is not considered at all likely as the 2012 elections approach. “The politics of this are difficult,” Mr. Obama conceded, “but ultimately I am confident that we are going to get it done.”
Mr. Obama, summarizing the leaders’ private meeting, said, “President Funes is committed to creating more economic opportunities here in El Salvador so that people don’t feel like they have to head north to provide for their families,” or “join a criminal drug network” in order to stay in the country.
But unlike in Brazil and Chile, Mr. Obama’s first two stops and countries with growing economies, El Salvador has had low rates of economic growth in the past decade and drug-related crime has flourished. The two presidents outlined ways in which El Salvador and the United States were working as partners with other nations in the hemisphere — from Canada to Chile — to address drug trafficking and economic development, including by involving the private sector in job-creation efforts.
It is estimated that more than two million people from El Salvador are now in the United States, legally and illegally. That is equal to about a third of this country’s current population, underscoring the scale of migration north in the three decades since the civil war of the 1980s began here, a conflict in which the United States backed the rightist government against the leftist rebels.
Before an official dinner, Mr. Obama visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which holds the tomb of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 and is now a national hero.
Mr. Obama had planned to visit the crypt on Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary of the assassination, but moved it up so he could return to Washington a couple of hours earlier. He will return to the United States after a conference call with his national security team about the conflict in Libya, which has overshadowed the trip to Latin America.
<The New York Times>,2011/03/22