President Barack Obama declared on Tuesday that he is fine with the idea of the House of Representatives passing immigration reform in a piecemeal fashion so long as everything contained in the bill does eventually pass. Obama has implored Republicans in the House to pass legislation on comprehensive immigration reform but Republicans have been reticent to even take a vote on the issue.
“They’re suspicious of comprehensive bills,” Obama told a Wall Street Journo CEO summit. “But you know what? If they want to chop that thing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, I don’t care what it looks like.” Many Republican members of the House of Representatives, including Speaker John Boehner, would prefer a piecemeal approach to allow them to vote on individual issues such as laborer visas and border security.
Obama does, however, have some imperatives in order for the bill to be passed. Any bill needs to include a pathway to US citizenship for undocumented immigrants, better enforcement of the country’s borders and to address the status of the children of undocumented immigrants. The issue of overhauling the immigration system has also been brought up by women’s groups.
TIME says that groups have gone to the National Press Club in order to attract attention to the way immigration laws impact the lives of women. “A vote against immigration reform, or inaction on this issue, is really a vote against women, children and families,” says women’s group We Belong Together co-chair Pramila Jayapal.