Obama aims to jump-start immigration reform

In first speech on the issue, he pledges not to 'kick the can down the road'

APNews
by DARLENE SUPERVILLE

updated 7/1/2010 9:52:35 AM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday blamed immigration policy gridlock on "political posturing and special interest wrangling."

In a speech, Obama took Republicans to task, in particular 11 GOP senators who supported recent efforts to improve the immigration system. He did not name any, but told his largely supportive audience at American University that those lawmakers had succumbed to the "pressures of partisanship and election-year politics."

Seeking to build new momentum on an issue many advocates hoped would be resolved by this point, Obama laid out his rationale for a comprehensive approach to fixing what he and others, Republicans included, say is a broken immigration system.

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