President Barack Obama plans to begin addressing changes to the U.S. immigration system this year, even though he acknowledges that the recession makes the politics involved in this divisive issue even more challenging. As reported in The New York Times, a senior administration official stated that Obama will frame the new effort as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system.”

Without stating specific proposals, officials commented that the Obama administration favors legislation that would:

• bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by acknowledging that they violated the law and imposing fines and other penalties as deemed appropriate; and
• guard against future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and being tough on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers.

Obama plans to speak publicly about immigration issues in May, and over the summer he will convene bipartisan working groups, composed of lawmakers and a variety of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation. Administration officials are still debating the precise timing and strategy for the proposed legislation.