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Obamas: "We need to stop punishing young people for their parent's mistakes"

With an audience of 250 people at American University July 1, President Barack Obama addressed the need for fixing the broken immigration system. “The politics…

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With an audience of 250 people at American University July 1, President Barack Obama addressed the need for fixing the broken immigration system.

“The politics of who is and who is not allowed to enter this country, and on what terms, has always been contentious.  And that remains true today.  And it’s made worse by a failure of those of us in Washington to fix a broken immigration system,” Obama said.

Political leaders such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rev. Al Sharpton, National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguia, selected members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter were on hand to listen to Obama delineate a plan to move forward on immigration issues; with Obama citing examples such as passing the Dream Act, a bill that would allow undocumented students to attend post-secondary institutions and provide a pathway to citizenship.

“We need to stop punishing young people for their parent’s mistakes,” Obama said.

Though his half-hour speech called for poetic justice—sighting Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, his attempt to sell the need for immigration reform remained vague in providing specific details. He gave no dates or any such indication of when the Federal government will challenge the Arizona immigration law SB1070 that is set to come to effect later this month.

Following his speech, Nutter said that it was crucial for the administration to move forward on the issue.

“The President gave an excellent outline of the kinds of things that need to take place at the federal level,” Nutter said. “When the Federal government does not do what needs to be done, the challenges fall on cities like Philadelphia.”

Nutter expressed his concerns about the shaky system sighting the mass exodus of Wharton students from the University of Pennsylvania sighting, “Think of how the United States would benefit from having all those people here in our country.”

Another mayor at hand was Bloomberg, a long-time advocate of immigration reform. Bloomberg made a strong political statement by addressing the crowd in Spanish before speaking English—“Lo mas importante es que el presidente esta sacando este tema adelante, reforma inmigratoria es crucial para reanimar la economia de este pais,” Following his statement, in broken but cheerful Spanish he told the crowd, “For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, this is the future of America.”

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