An Obama-Era Border Crosser
Two weeks after the 2014 midterm elections, then-President Barack Obama addressed the nation on the issue of illegal immigration. Part of this address -- delivered from the White House -- actually focused on the negative aspects of people illegally entering and staying in the United States.
"But today, our immigration system is broken -- and everybody knows it," Obama said.
"Families who enter our country the right way and play by the rules watch others flout the rules," he said. "Business owners who offer their workers good wages and benefits see the competition exploit undocumented immigrants by paying them far less. All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America."
Obama then claimed he had made progress in securing the border.
"When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system," he said. "And I began by doing what I could to secure our borders. Today, we have more agents and technology deployed to secure our southern border than at any time in our history. And over the past six years, illegal border crossings have been cut by more than half."
According to the Pew Research Center, when Obama was sworn into office in 2009, there were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Over the next two years that increased to 11.5 million. Then, during Obama's final six years in office it modestly declined, hitting 10.5 million in 2017, the first year of President Donald Trump's first term.
In his Nov. 20, 2014 address, Obama vowed to focus immigration enforcement on those who posed "actual threats to our security."
"(W)e'll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in our country," Obama........
