President Obama wants comprehensive immigration reform back on the table.

During a stop in El Paso, Texas, May 10, the president called for creating a path to legal status for undocumented workers, passing the DREAM Act, holding unscrupulous employers accountable, and a process for keeping immigrant families together.

He noted that in the past two years his administration has met the demands of congressional Republicans who insisited on a enforcement first immigration policy.

Some former Republican supporters of reform, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had co-sponsored a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the past, backed off support for reform once President Obama took office.

To meet the demands of the enforcement first Republicans, President Obama said he has taken such steps as doubling the number of Border Patrol agents, improving cooperation with Mexico on the flow of illegal drugs, and prioritizing the deportation of violent criminal immigrants from the U.S.

By the President's own admission, the increased number of deportations has been "controversial." Critics of the administration's deportation efforts point out that more than just criminals have been kicked out of the country. According to a recent story at Colorlines. com, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, in announcing his state's decision to back off previous cooperation with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on deportations, said that as many as 30 percent of deportees have no criminal record whatsoever and only a small fraction of deportees have been convicted of "a serious crime."

The controversy over enforcement has created a great deal of disappointment in the Latino immigrant community, said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, following the speech.

Even without passage of a new law, Sharry said, the President could "deal with the disappointment and anger regarding immigration among many in the Latino immigrant community" by taking "some bold administrative steps that focus enforcement on the 'worst of the worst' and stop the deportation of low enforcement priorities such as DREAMers [undocumented students who would likely be included under provisions of the DREAM Act] and others."

After meeting the "enforcement first" demands of the Republicans, President Obama told the El Paso crowd, "I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They’ll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They’ll say we need a higher fence to support reform."

"Maybe they’ll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat," he said. "They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics."

But now is the time to move forward with reform, he urged.

The speech earned President Obama praise from business and religious groups on a press teleconference call afterwards.

Warren Buffet scion and capitalist, Howard G. Buffett, told reporters the President's speech signals the chance to move away from politics as usual toward working out a compromise on comprehensive immigration reform. He described the current system as "dysfunctional." "People suffer from it," he said. "Businesses suffer from it, and at times our economy has suffered from it."

The self-identified Republican added that keeping so many working people in the shadows allows unscrupulous business owners to push down wages for all workers.

El Paso, Texas Mayor John Cook praised the president's speech as "right on." The comprehensive approach beyond just enforcement makes the most sense.

Randy Johnson, an official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, guardedly praised the speech. He took a moment to lash out at the labor movement for its demand that immigration reform also protect the rights of workers. If the final package includes a "temporary guestworker" program, which many say allows employers to super-exploit immigrants, his organization is ready to back comprehensive reform. He added that few of the President's critics have given him credit for the border security programs he has implemented, and Republicans should recognize that fact.

"Comprehensive immigration reform is about people that are our neighbors that go to church with us and work with us," added Galen Carey, director of government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). "All people need to be treated with dignity and respect. And that's true in enforcement as well as in reform."

"The President gave a good speech," Carey told reporters. "But he needs to do more than make good speeches. We would like the President to show the same tenacity in working for immigration reform that he demonstrated in the search for Osama bin Laden." He said the President's leadership is needed to build a broad, bipartisan consensus on comprehensive reform.

On the same day as the speech, the AFL-CIO signaled its continued willingness to stand with all workers, including immigrants, to protect their rights to decent wages, the right to join unions and to better working conditions.

In a statement announcing new partnerships with the National Domestic Workers' Alliance and the National Guestworkers' Alliance, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka emphasized the unions' role in standing with immigrant workers disproportionately represented by the two groups.

"We are committing to work together to build a powerful labor movement for the 21st Century," he said. "We are proud to fight together with our union brothers and sisters to defend and expand the right to organize, win justice for immigrants, and ensure that one day the workers that makes all other work possible – cleaning and caring for children and seniors – will have rights, respect, and recognition."

In a separate statement, Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina, who attended the President's speech, chastised stalling lawmakers. "For years, Republicans have blocked congressional debate on comprehensive immigration reform with the false argument – proven wrong many times over – that securing the border was a pre-requisite for comprehensive immigration reform," he explained. "Their repeated stalling tactic is calling for securing the border before engaging in a debate on other reforms that would resolve the status of undocumented workers and their families already here and also level the playing field for all workers."

With everyone at the table ready for comprehensive reform, "the question remains: When are the Republicans going to quit stalling and start finding solutions that the public is demanding?" Medina added. "We are ready to work on it for the sake of our economic and national security and for the American people."

Photo by ProgressOhio/cc by 2.0/Flickr