This just in - Obama to tackle CIR over next few months

[Jaime]

This just in - Looks promising> Let's support and contribute!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....49d34c0b.html

[validIV]

Looks promising indeed. Can't wait to hear the outcome.

[gauravsh]

thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hsingh82]

Do you guys think its really going to help EB community?

[Green.Tech]

It may give us a chance to tag on our provisions to this? If we are lucky, may be lost visa numbers will be recaptured (like they did in late nineties, early 2000) in a push to get GC's to all legal folks before taking on this huge push for the illegals.

Yeah, wishful thinking, I know

[sri1309]

Very good post!!!.

Shall we now take a nap and wake up after 4 months to have our greencards delivered to our doors, now that they are saying 1-2 months.
THIS IS THE TIME TO DO things. We must have our case on the table when the topic opens up.
IV core, do you still think we must wait, while the president himself is speaking immigration.
Lets act very fast now and make sure we are heard even before they open anything to anyone else.. We need a BIG action item on this and we are ready to contribute money if needed. Please help,.

All,
Lets start writing.. I'll now wake up my thread. Loha garam hai..

[poorslumdog]

I am not sure how this is going to help us....They are all talking about illegals. Should we all become illegals to get GC soon

[gcnotfiledyet]

I don't know where the newspaper got 1-2months. Obama just dodged the question of when he was going to do it with his witty reply. Whatever he mentioned has nothing new but rhetoric speech. I would not get any hopes up with that speech. He is going to Mexico to discuss violence and how to protect US from that violence. It has nothing to do with immigration. He is dodging the ball. Nobody wants to deal with immigration right now.

[24fps]

No one is going to touch immigration as long as unemployment is where it is, no amount of political clout will ever get that one through right now, trust me

[gvenkat]

The problem with the Legal immigration is apart from EB3-India everyone else is current or their dates are retrogessed for 3-4 years, which is fair.

we EB3 are a very low subset that got affected by this retrogression. Worst in my case i have a master's degree but employer won't file in EB2 category.

The only hope for us is some kind of mass rule that eliminates this log. Nothing else is going to help us. I'm pretty sure they know about EB3-I and they dont care. End of story.

let's not worry and have fun

[saketkapur]

maybe all of us can become illegals when the time comes.......

we have to inform to USCIS at every step and dodge all sorts of legal interpretations at the whims of ignorant IOs and POEs and keep getting screwed......

[breddy2000]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/.../obama_economy

COSTA MESA, Calif. – In Washington, President Barack Obama is the ultimate insider, hosting White House parties to woo lawmakers and diplomats. Elsewhere, he increasingly plays the embattled and populist crusader, helping average Americans fight entrenched interests on Capitol Hill and Wall Street.

On Wednesday, Obama donned that cloak in Southern California, where he said the weather and conversations are much nicer than in Washington. The conversation was more one-sided, to be sure, as he stood before 1,300 frequently cheering people, 2,500 miles from the Capitol's shadow.

He defended his ambitious plan to overhaul health care, energy, education, taxes and spending policies in the coming months, against unnamed forces aligned against him.

"I know some folks in Washington and on Wall Street are saying we should focus on only one problem at a time: 'our problem,'" Obama said. "But that's just not the way it works."

"You don't get to choose between paying your mortgage bills or your medical bills," he told the crowd in a hot auditorium. The government, too, must tackle multiple challenges at once, he said.

Obama spoke for 21 minutes, then took eight questions. The first: Will he seek re-election in 2012?

"If I could get done what I think needs to get done in four years, even if it meant that I was only president for four years, I would rather be a good president — to take on the tough issues for four years — than a mediocre president for eight years," Obama said.

There were other whiffs of self-sacrifice. Referring to the uproar over bonuses paid to executives of the largely nationalized AIG insurance company, Obama said: "I know Washington's all in a tizzy, and everybody's pointing fingers at each other and saying, 'It's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault.' Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president."

In the same breath, he said, "We didn't draft these contracts." But he added, "It is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this."

Obama tried to head off questions about AIG by saying he understood taxpayers' anger. And he tried to broaden the issue, which has vexed his young administration.

"These bonuses, outrageous as they are, are a symptom of a much larger problem," he said. It's "a culture where people made enormous sums of money taking irresponsible risks that have now put the entire economy at risk."

In fact, no one asked Obama about AIG. The questions focused on jobs, schools, unions' rights and other issues that are easier for him to handle.

One little curve ball came, however, on a topic Obama rarely mentions on his own: immigration. Before a crowd that seemed divided on the emotional, politically dangerous issue, Obama said he still supports "comprehensive immigration reform."

The nation must find a way, he said, to strengthen its borders while also giving about 12 million illegal immigrants a path to possible citizenship.

"People who have been here for a long time and put down roots," he said, should have "a mechanism over time to get out of the shadows" and achieve legal status, including citizenship.

They would have to learn English, pay a significant fine and "go to the back of the line" of those applying for legal entry, he said.
Former President George W. Bush backed a similar immigration program. But it died in Congress amid heavy criticisms, especially from those saying too many illegal immigrants have been allowed to enter the country.

Obama visited the Los Angeles area Wednesday to promote his $787 billion economic stimulus and to tape an appearance Thursday on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

[bugmenot]

I saw that broadcast live, all Obama did was give rhetoric about Immigration reform, didnt mention anything about Legal immigration and did'nt even come close to talking about implementing it or trying to implement it anytime soon. No one on capital hill has the political clout to get CIR through anytime this year, its way too volatile.

[jchan]

Two signs made me pessimistic about the coming CIR:

1. The crowd is "heavily emotionally divided by the immigration issue", which means fewer congressmen are willing to take the risk supporting CIR

2. In the other article, Obama met with "hispanic congressmen" only, which implies legal immigrants is not on the agenda for that meeting. And history has showed again and again that those congressmen will try their best to lay roadblocks for us...

Compared to piecemeal approach, CIR will wreak havoc of the immigration system, it's not likely a good thing for many of us who have been waiting for such a long time.

[newuser]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D970PRTG0.htm