Obama to discuss immigration at Chicago’s Copernicus Center
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
25.11.2014 17:17
US President Barack Obama is set to pitch his strategy on immigration in a meeting with community leaders at Chicago’s Copernicus Center, a cultural and social hub for the city’s significant Polonia population.
US President Barack Obama in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington DC, USA, 24 November 2014. Photo: PAP/EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS
The Polish community in Chicago was flattered that the White House chose the Copernicus Center for this meeting on a key issue of Obama’s presidency.
Gregg Kobelinski, a director at the Copernicus Center, said the recommendation came from high up. “It was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who advised Barack Obama to meet with representatives of the immigrant societies in this place,” he told Polish Radio.
“Barack Obama’s arrival to the Copernicus Center is a great honour for this place,” he added.
There are an estimated 16,000 Poles living illegally in the state of Illinois, whose largest city Chicago is the largest hub of Poles outside of Warsaw.
“It is flattering for the president to include our community,” Anna Zolkowski Sobor, an active member of the city’s Polonia community, told local website DNAinfo.
The meeting has been organised to be internationally inclusive. President Obama will be introduced by Irishman Billy Lawson and is expected to discuss issues which will affect all communities, from Polish to Latino.
“Obama is expected to stress the economic benefits of his plan, with an emphasis on immigrant-owned businesses. He plans to again call on Congress to pass an overall immigration bill,” wrote USA Today. (rg/jb)