Washington D.C., Jul 2, 2010 / 03:07 am
Commenting on President Obama's speech on immigration reform Thursday morning, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops migration director told CNA that the address was a “good sign” that the president is concerned and involved with the issue.
On July 1, President Obama spoke on the need to reform the country's “broken” immigration system, condemning partisanship and stressing the necessity of both parties working together to pass immigration reform. The president also criticized states such as Arizona for taking “ill-conceived” steps in devising their own legislative responses in reforming immigration policies.
Although the speech was received by the media with mixed reactions– including some commentators saying that the president addressed nothing new in his talk – USCCB director Migration and Public Affairs Kevin Appleby said that the address was important, since “without presidential leadership, immigration reform is not going to happen.”
“It was a good sign that the president did a high profile speech laying out the administration's view on this,” Appleby said during a phone interview on Thursday, adding that “it is a major issue on his agenda that needs to be examined.”