Immigration remained a controversial issue in the 2008 presidential election and was frequently discussed by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. During the debates, President Obama stated: “The time to fix our broken immigration system is now… We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace… But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America… Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should.”

During the presidential debates, Obama stated that as president, he would create secure borders, improve the immigration system, and remove incentives for immigrants to enter the country illegally. More specifically, President Obama’s immigration agenda includes:

• Securing borders by providing additional personnel, technology, and infrastructure
• Improve the immigration system: “Fix the dysfunctional bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demands for jobs that employers cannot fill”
• Remove incentives for illegal immigration by prosecuting employers who hire undocumented immigrants
• Allow undocumented immigrants in “good standing” to pay fines, learn English, and “move to the back of the line” in order to become US citizens
• Promote economic development with Mexico in order to decrease illegal immigration

In July 2008, Obama addressed the National Council of La Raza, a national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization that strives to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. He promised to make immigration reform a top priority if elected president. He stated, “I think it's time for a president who won't walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform just because it becomes politically unpopular. I will make it a top priority in my first year as the president of the United States of America.”

President Obama’s official campaign site highlights his previous record on immigration. He has previously:

• Advocated for a system that allows employers to easily verify immigration eligibility of their employees, in order to crack down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants
• Proposed amendments that would emphasize keeping immigrant families together.
• Along with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, introduced the Citizenship Promotion Act which would help ensure that immigration application fees are fair.

Some have speculated that both of the 2009 presidential running mates shared similar views on immigration reform. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have spoken about their intentions of securing US borders, creating a path towards citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are estimated to be living in the United States, and introducing strict penalties for those who hire illegal immigrants. However, the steps in achieving immigration reform differ between the candidates. Senator McCain proposed to focus on securing the borders first, and appears to have a more while piecemeal strategy for his immigration reform plan than compared to Barack Obama’s concurrent approach to immigration reform.

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. His Kenyan-born father and Kansas born mother met at the University of Hawaii. Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya and Barack was raised by his mother in Hawaii and later in Indonesia. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and from Harvard law school in 1991. In 2004, Obama became the third African American to be elected to the US Senate. On August 23, 2008, Obama officially announced his running mate and Vice Presidential nominee as Senator Joe Biden, a Democratic Senator from Delaware. On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama was elected the 43rd president of the United States. He is the first African American president of the United States.