January 7, 2012 Yesterday, President Obama made a decision that should make us all proud. He proposed an immigration rule change that will keep American families together by cutting bureaucratic wait times and relieving undue hardship on U.S. citizens who are unfairly separated from their loved ones. The current law requires undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to leave the country in order to complete the legal immigration process. But once they leave the country, they are often prohibited from returning to the United States -- sometimes for up to a decade.
President Obama's proposal would allow undocumented children and spouses of citizens to complete most of the process to gain legal status in the United States, avoiding the unnecessary and sometimes extensive separation of American families. Join me today in standing with the President and this big step forward on immigration policy. This rule change would allow U.S. citizens to remain with their families and is consistent with the President's commitment to sensible reform to fix our broken immigration system. He has streamlined naturalization for military service members, fought for the DREAM Act, and directed the Department of Homeland Security to focus on removing those who have committed crimes over those who pose little threat to our communities. Now, he's offering American families the chance to remain together as they pursue legal status.
The contrast between the President's approach to fixing our broken immigration system and Republicans like Mitt Romney's could not be clearer. Mitt Romney, who would have the most extreme immigration position of any presidential nominee in modern history, would separate these families. He advocates kicking all undocumented immigrants out of the country -- even those families who've lived here for a generation, raised children and grandchildren here, paid taxes, obeyed the law, are members of their churches and communities, and even serve in the military.
Romney has even vowed to veto the DREAM Act, calling it a "handout" -- when it is a common-sense, bipartisan proposal that allows some patriotic and talented young immigrants, who came here through no fault of their own, to earn the opportunity to apply for citizenship. The President is fighting for a legal immigration system that meets our country's diverse needs because he knows that we all prosper when we recognize that we are all in it together. He believes that, as a nation of immigrants, we should stand united without dividing people. It's important that, today, we stand together with the President:
