Natalie Gonnella
President Obama yesterday hosted a private meeting with key immigration "stakeholders" to discuss their ideas and opinions on current policy as he aims to "intensify" his push for comprehensive immigration reform.
In a statement addressing the purpose and outcome of the event, the White House noted the President's commitment to ensuring bipartisan cooperation on the issue:
[T]he President listened to stakeholders describe a variety of problems that result from the broken system...The President reiterated his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform that both strengthens security at our borders while restoring accountability to the broken immigration system, and pointed out that perpetuating a broken immigration system is not an option if America is to win the future...The President noted that he will continue to work to forge bipartisan consensus and will intensify efforts to lead a civil debate on this issue in the coming weeks and months, but also noted that he cannot be successful if he is leading the debate alone.
Quite apparent, however, was the absence of every current border governor (three of which are Republicans) at yesterday's meeting, a "snub," which not surprisingly has irritated a number of elected officials who have repeatedly called for increased attention from the President to address the significant gaps in security along the US-Mexico border.
In an interview last night with Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer expressed her frustration with the administration's continued disregard for the concerns of those living along the country's southern border, apparent yet again in his choice to not include border governors in this week's summit:
I'm a little bit offended. I think that I put my name out there. I put my career out there. I've been fighting hard for the people of Arizona in regards to this. I believe I've been relentless. And I think I have a lot to offer. I'm going to speak for the people.
And if we could sit down and discuss these things, we could get the solutions, maybe we could get something implemented. And it is what I told him when I visited with him. We have to agree to disagree. I'm not interested in a lot of solutions until we get our borders secured. It's simple. And not having been invited today was truly a snub. It was a snub.
Earlier in the interview, Governor Brewer also commented:
I feel Arizona, I believe I and Rick Perry and certainly the governors on the border have been leading the fight. We've been bringing the message to America. And I think that we should have been afforded that opportunity to be at the table to help him understand the situation that we want straightened out
Adding that:
The bottom line is that [the President] has a different agenda than what the American people have. Unfortunately, we keep talking and we keep contacting him with our concerns, really no response, no concern. Of course now we are in the election period so we now he's going to be standing up and talking about he's going to do this and that. He's had two years to deliver what he promised two years ago and hasn't delivered.
So we want our borders secured. I truly believe that the majority of us are not going to discuss anything else in regards to what his agenda is, until we get satisfaction with security at our borders.
Although the Administration failed to reach out to the current border governors for yesterday's meeting, his invite list did include a number of well known individuals from a variety of backgrounds including:
- NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (a very vocal advocate against gun laws passed under Governor Brewer who in February set up an undercover sting to investigate Arizona gun shows)
- The former police chief of New York Bill Brown
- Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
- Former Senator Mel Martinez
- Greg Page, chairman and CEO of Cargill
- Reverand Al Sharpton
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook (interestingly, the President is heading to Facebook HQ today to host an online townhall to drum up support for his reelection bid)
- Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Richard Trumka, who is AFL-CIO union leader.
Governor Brewer's full interview can be viewed here.
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