Editorial: President needs to make immigration reform a priority

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama says he remains committed to overhauling our nation's immigration laws.

We wish him luck. His predecessors — a Democrat and a Republican — also tried but failed to find political consensus on one of the most enduring, complex issues facing the United States.

There are an estimated 12 million undocumented people — nearly equivalent to the population of Pennsylvania — in the United States.

Obama wants to open the door for these immigrants to earn legal status, but amnesty has become a fighting word in Congress. That's a shame. Many of those here illegally were drawn by the economic opportunities and freedoms our nation has to offer.  We are still the land of opportunity for much of the world. We should be proud of that — and proud of being a nation of immigrants. That is one of our great strengths.

Today's opportunities often are the same ones that brought many of our ancestors across oceans to create new lives.

But today, many Americans have decided those immigrants are not entitled to citizenship because they are here illegally, having sneaked into the country rather than having followed the legal immigration process.

Obama's pledge to pursue reforms that bring much-needed order and clarity to U.S. immigration policy is a more appropriate approach.

That President Obama has declared he is ready to tackle this important national problem, even though it promises to be a steep, uphill battle, is a step in the right direction.

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