THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, Saturday, July 12, 2014

WHITE HOUSE VIDEO MESSAGE: Expanding Opportunities

WASHINGTON, DC In this weeks message, Special Assistant to the President for Immigration Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council Felicia Escobar discussed the Presidents trip to Colorado and Texas, where he talked to people about the challenges millions of Americans face to work their way into the middle class. The President also underscored the need to pass bipartisan legislation to fix our broken immigration system, after a roundtable on the urgent humanitarian situation at the border.

The audio of the address and video of the message will be available onlineHERE.

Remarks of Felicia Escobar, Special Assistant to the President for Immigration Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council

Spanish Weekly Address

The White House

Hello everyone. I'm Felicia Escobar, and I work on immigration policy in the White House.

This week, the President traveled to Colorado and Texas to talk with people about what is going in their lives people who work hard, and live up to their responsibilities, but feel like the odds are stacked against them. And with just a slight change to Washingtons priorities, we could make a real difference for millions of Americans.

Yes, after the worst economic crisis in generations, our businesses have now created nearly 10 million new jobs over the past 52 months. The unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point since 2008.

But we have more to do. It certainly doesnt help when Republicans in Congress block every serious idea to strengthen the middle class. So the President has taken steps to attract new jobs, lift workers wages, help students pay off their loans, and more.

The President also visited my home state, Texas, where he held a roundtable discussion on immigration with community leaders and local elected officials. He called on Congress to work together to address the urgent humanitarian situation at the border and to pass bipartisan legislation to fix our broken immigration system.

The President is here because of hardworking, middle-class Americans, and for everyone wanting to be part of the middle class. Thank you.

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