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Obama and increases in US legal immigration

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The new Obama administration in the US proposed immigration policy which favours an increase in the number of legal immigrants may benefit Indians. Many of the legal immigrants in the US are Indians.

"Fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill," according to the White House document that details immigration policy for the new administration.

"Our broken immigration system can only be fixed by putting politics aside and offering a complete solution that secures our border, enforces our laws, and reaffirms our heritage as a nation of immigrants," says Obama.

The agenda document also makes it clear that tougher action will be taken against employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

The Obama Administration supports a policy that will give undocumented immigrants a route to citizenship. Undocumented immigrants in good standing will need to have good English and eventually be in a position to apply for US citizenship.

Previously as an US Senator Obama said in the Senate on May 23, 2007: "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."

Obama was sworn in as US President on Tuesday.