By Clint Confehr
NASHVILLE, TN — Responding to immigrants’ fear that the next administration will revoke a new White House policy calling for voluntary registration by people who’ve come to the United States illegally, President Barrack Obama on Tuesday said here that the American people won’t let that happen.
Besides, Obama said, “We can’t deport 11 million people. It would be foolish to try.” Instead, priorities must be set, he said. “At the top are criminals and at the bottom are those who are otherwise law-abiding people.” Obama encouraged undocumented aliens to register, submit to a background check and then work without fear of deportation.
“Americans are fair-minded and want to reward people who are doing the right thing,” Obama said, still acknowledging, “We have to push for comprehensive immigration reform,” a theme U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Nashville) emphasized in a statement following the President’s dialogue at Casa Azafran, an immigrant community center on Nolensville Road.
“The U.S. Senate – including Sens. Corker and Alexander – voted overwhelmingly to do what the President outlined today,” Cooper said. “House Republicans have refused to consider the Senate bill, but they have three more days to allow an up or down vote where it would pass with a large majority.
“Our community … supports the goal of integrating immigrants into the wider community,” Cooper said, including the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Lipscomb University, the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and local charitable family foundations as welcoming institutions. “We are a model for the country.”
Cooper and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) traveled with Obama to Nashville from Washington, D.C. on Air Force One, which arrived about half an hour earlier than scheduled for a trip to discuss the President’s recent executive actions to give temporary legal status and work permits to up to 5 million people in the country illegally.
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