President Obama says that the refusal of the Republican party to pass immigration reform is political suicide. The president made his comments in Los Angeles during a town hall meeting, saying that the thought process of the GOP is difficult to fathom given that its current attitude will be toxic to its future political prospects in the long term.
Obama says that the demographics of the United States are undergoing a change and that Hispanics are becoming a much greater part of the population. Obama points out that if the Republican party fails to enact immigration reform, it could be alienating an entire generation of voters; however, he admits that one reason for the reluctance of Republican lawmakers to take up the challenge is the virulent anti-immigration attitude of Tea Party members. Obama also says that he believes immigration reform will be passed by Congress before he leaves the Oval Office. “Congress will see the light because the logic of it is too compelling,” he insists. “I’m going to keep fighting on this.” Despite his apparent optimism, Obama says that he still intends to take executive action on the issue before the end of 2014 as the result of the failure of Republicans in the House of Representatives to move on the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the Senate last year. The president hinted on Thursday that one measure he might take is expanding the H1-B US visa program to allow more skilled immigrants to work in the United States.