President Obama has softened his stance on a pathway to citizenship in the immigration reform bill, reports the BBC. (photo by Ray of LA)
The President signaled he might support an immigration overhaul that did not include a pathway to citizenship, but protected undocumented immigrants from deportation by giving them legal status.
The remarks come after House Republicans on Thursday laid out their negotiating principles for immigration reform and proposed a way for undocumented immigrants to become legal residents, but not citizens.
“If the speaker proposes something that says right away folks aren’t being deported, families aren’t being separated, we’re able to track top young students to provide the skills or start businesses here and then there’s a regular process of citizenship, I’m not sure how wide the divide ends up being,” President Obama said. “That’s why I don’t want to prejudge it.”
A poll released in December by the Pew Research Center found Asian Americans and Hispanics were more concerned about gaining protection from deportation than gaining citizenship.
