Obama attacks 'anti-immigrant sentiment'

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Speaking to an Hispanic group on Thursday night, President Obama combined his call for an overhaul of the immigration system with a denunciation of some of the Republican presidential candidates.

"The anti-immigrant sentiment that has infected our politics is not new, but it is wrong," Obama said at the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala.

From the Irish to the Italians, immigrants have been subjected to "some of the same stereotypes," Obama said, adding: "Unless you were one of the first Americans -- unless you're Navajo or Cherokee -- somebody somewhere came from someplace else."

With immigration a major issue in the Republican presidential race, Obama referred at one point to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and his call for a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexican border.

"You've got to recognize that America's greatness does not come from building walls," Obama said. "Our greatness comes from building opportunity."

The president also made an apparent reference to GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who was once involved in congressional efforts to forge a new immigration bill.

"Now some of the very same Republican politicians who championed reform in the past -- some of whom sponsored these efforts -- suddenly they want nothing to do with it," Obama said.

Obama also echoed his call for a new immigration system that addresses the 11 million or so migrants who are in the United States illegally.

"I believe that people who come here illegally should have to pay a fine, and pay their fair share of taxes, and get registered, and get right with the law and go to the back of the line before they earn citizenship," Obama said.

Many Republicans oppose any kind of pathway to citizenship, calling it amnesty for lawbreakers.