Immigration Less Than Two Percent of Obama's State of the Union Speech

President Barack Obama only mentioned immigration reform efforts as a mere throwaway line in his State of the Union speech Tuesday evening. The only time he mentioned the matter, according to prepared remarks distributed to press before delivery, was as something he argued would help the economy after a long line of other policy prescriptions he pushed.

“Finally, if we are serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, and law enforcement – and fix our broken immigration system,” Obama said. “Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: when people come here to fulfill their dreams – to study, invent, and contribute to our culture – they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let’s get immigration reform done this year.”

In terms of word count, immigration reform – that single paragraph – is less than two percent of Obama’s full speech. That paragraph clocks in at 121 words, while his full speech is 6,847 words long. That means immigration took up about 1.7 percent of Obama’s speech.

Printed out, that paragraph barely fills a quarter of page four of the twelve-page printout.

While Obama put the issue on the back burner while in the bully pulpit of the State of the Union speech, Republicans like Boehner, Cantor, and Ryan, and others like Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, are gearing up to attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens and import millions of new foreign workers as part of a massive increase in legal immigration.