President Barack Obama believes that many foreigners have a right to immigrate into the United States, regardless of what Americans prefer, say immigration experts.

The evidence emerged from the president’s mouth on Labor Day, as Obama was urging his supporters to vote in November, despite the struggling economy.

“Cynicism is a bad choice… Hope is what gives young people the strength to march for women’s rights, and worker’s rights, and civil rights, and voting rights, and gay rights and immigration rights,” Obama told union supporters gathered Sept. 1 in Milwaukee, Wisc.

That “immigration rights” phrase “implies that some people have the right to move here,” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center of Immigration Studies.

“It is supposed to be Congress [which decides who can immigrate] but what the president seems to be saying is that ‘If migrants themselves decides to immigrate, and if they are here long enough, we’ll let them stay,’” he said.

That number of foreigners who could gain from the idea could be very large.

Roughly 12 million illegals are living in the country, and Obama has backed plans to provide them with an amnesty. More than 130,000 Central Americans have crossed the U.S. border since last October, and have been allowed by Obama to file for Green Cards instead of being immediately repatriated.

His deputies are also using various legal means to offer asylum or Green Cards to new groups of foreigners, including foreigners who have already been.