Obama encouraged by progress on immigration reform: White House

Washington: US President Barack Obama is satisfied with the progress made by the Congress on the comprehensive immigration reform, the White House has said, hoping that the legislation will manage to get the nod of the Senate and both the Houses. "He (Obama) is encouraged by the progress that has been made thus far. But we are still in the early stages of seeing that bipartisan effort moves its way through the Senate and hopefully move its way through both Houses," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. When it comes to immigration reform, he said, the President`s message is about the need to reform a system that is broken, and in doing so, to enhance border security, hold businesses accountable, strengthen economy by helping those 11 million people who are in this country illegally, and enhance US national security by having those people enter the system. The reforms seek to provide illegal inhabitants a clear path to citizenship, he noted. "So the broad principles that the President laid out a long time ago now are the principles that guide him as he looks at the work that the Congress is doing, specifically so far that the Senate has done," he said.

Later this week, Obama is headed to Mexico and Central America. "I think our relationship with the countries in Central America is vital in many ways. It`s certainly not limited at all to the matters of immigration reform in this country," Carney said. "That`s something you can expect he`ll talk about, because it`s very topical here in the US and it is of interest to countries in the region. But our relationship with these countries is vital in terms of trade and other matters," he said. Obama`s visit to the region, he said, is always significant because of the his commitment to expanding economic ties to the countries of Latin America. "That`s very much a part of this trip. Our relationship with Mexico is especially vital and important economically and culturally and in other ways, and that remains the case," Carney said. PTI