Obama to push immigration reform in Texas; Rep. Lamar Smith says it’s ‘unlikely he will succeed

[The Northerner]

President Barack Obama will use the Texas-Mexico border as a backdrop next week for a speech on the need to pass sweeping immigration reform, officials said on Friday.

Obama is traveling to El Paso where he will call on Congress to fix the nation’s broken immigration system and address the 11 million immigrants in this country illegally – including 1.6 million in Texas.

“I want to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, to enforce our laws and also to address the status of millions of undocumented workers,” Obama told Latino leaders at a “Cinco de Mayo” reception at the White House.

Immigration reform has stalled in Congress and Obama conceded that passing comprehensive legislation “is not going to be easy.”

Read more: http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/05/obama-to-push-immigration-reform-in-texas-rep-lamar-smith-says-its-unlikely-he-will-succeed-anytime-soon/