Obama urges critics to \\\'pass bill\\\' on immigration

LAS VEGAS, Nov 22 (AFP): Obama urged Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform as he used his weekly address Saturday to again defend his unilateral action shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

"I still believe that the best way to solve this problem is by working together-both parties-to pass that kind of bipartisan law," Obama said in his weekly radio and television address, referring to a wide-ranging overhaul that had passed the Senate but was blocked in the House of Representatives.

"That bill would have secured our border, while giving undocumented immigrants who already live here a pathway to citizenship if they paid a fine, started paying their taxes, and went to the back of the line," the president said, speaking from the Las Vegas, Nevada high school where he launched his immigration reform efforts two years ago.

"But until that happens, there are actions I have the legal authority to take as President-the same kinds of actions taken by Democratic and Republican Presidents before me-that will help make our immigration system more fair and more just," he insisted.

Obama's controversial overhaul, praised by many immigration rights activists, provides three-year relief for millions of undocumented people who have lived in the country for more than five years and have children who are US citizens or legal residents.

According to the president, it also channels more resources to the US border with Mexico and shifts deportation priorities toward expelling felons.

Wasting little time, the president signed two elements of the orders on Friday.

Republicans have heaped scorn on the plan, calling it "executive amnesty," "illegal" and "unconstitutional," bringing tensions between Washington's warring camps to a boil.

Obama said he had "one answer" for critics who allege he overstepped his authority: "Pass a bill. The day I sign it into law, the actions I've taken to help solve this problem will no longer be necessary."

Meanwhile, he defended his reforms, saying "nothing about this action will benefit anyone who has come to this country recently, or who might try and come to America illegally in the future," and noting that it does not offer a path to citizenship.

"It's certainly not amnesty, no matter how often the critics say it," he said.

"Amnesty is the immigration system we have today-millions of people living here without paying their taxes, or playing by the rules."

Meanwhile: US President Barack Obama urged calm Friday ahead of a grand jury decision expected to trigger protests in the restive town of Ferguson, where the FBI arrested two men for buying explosives.

A grand jury in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson is looking at the racially charged shooting that saw white police officer Darren Wilson shoot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an African American.

The black teen's August 9 death led to weeks of violence, and Missouri's governor this week declared a state of emergency and activated the state National Guard ahead of the decision.

In a sign of just how heated unrest may be once the grand jury's decision is made public, the FBI arrested late Thursday two suspected members of the new Black Panthers for purchasing explosives to use in pipe bombs during protests, CBS News reported.

The St Louis residents were arraigned in federal court Friday, after arrests on outstanding warrants.

The FBI separately announced it has deployed about 100 agents to the St Louis decision in anticipation of the decision.

"First and foremost, keep protests peaceful," Obama told ABC News.

"This is a country that allows everybody to express their views, allows them to peacefully assemble to protest actions that they think are unjust, but using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to rule of law and contrary to who we are."

Obama's comments came after Brown's father and Attorney General Eric Holder also made separate appeals.

"Thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and police intimidation, but hurting others or destroying property is not the answer," the victim's father, Michael Brown Sr, said in a somber video plea.