On May 23, 2007, then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama made the following statement:

"The time to fix our broken immigration system is now ... We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace ... But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America ... Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should."

As senator, Obama voted for increases in permanent and temporary foreign work visas such as the H1-B, under which foreign workers are brought in to fill positions where there's a lack of American workers.

Critics say these visa programs have been abused by employers to get lower cost workers into this country rather than hiring American workers. Also, foreign workers don't return home, choosing to remain in the U.S. on an expired visa.

As president, Obama supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology at U.S. ports of entry. He also calls for increasing the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers can't fill.

Obama supports cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants and promoting Mexico's economic development to decrease illegal immigration. He thinks illegal immigrants who aren't in legal trouble should pay a fine, have the option to learn English and wait in line for the opportunity to become citizens.

The recently approved stimulus bill prohibits all financial institutions receiving the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, funds from hiring any employee who's in H-1B status, unless the company complies with H-1B dependent provisions.

TARP, widely known as last fall's $7 billion government bailout bill, is a program designed to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions, with the intention of strengthening its financial sector. In 2008, it was the largest component of the U.S. government addressing the subprime mortgage crisis.

These new provisions inhibit employers from hiring H-1B employees by requiring a recruiting process similar to an application for labor certification before filing the petition. This makes it difficult for any TARP fund recipient to hire or retain H-1B employees.

The stimulus bill includes funding for the development and deployment of border security technology along the southern border, as well as the renovation of federally-owned land border ports of entry.

The bill also includes $40 million in grants for law enforcement along the Mexican border to fight drug-related crime and illegal gun running.

A proposal that was initially included in Obama's economic stimulus package -- but in the end was rejected by Senate negotiators -- was a requirement that any business receiving stimulus funds would need to enroll in E-Verify, a government program for determining work eligibility.

The E-Verify system is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Citizen and Immigration Services, along with the Social Security Administration. It's a free, voluntary Internet-based employment eligibility verification system for employers to compare information from an employee's job application with information contained on DHS and SSA databases to determine their work eligibility in the U.S.

More than 87,000 employers are enrolled in the program, with more than 6.5 million queries run so far in fiscal year 2008, the DHS reported.

But the program is plagued by serious problems that include misidentifying U.S. citizens as not authorized for employment, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Supporters of E-Verify say the program is needed to prevent illegal immigrants from securing jobs paid for by the stimulus package -- especially in the construction sector, which is expected to receive more than $100 billion under the stimulus bill. They say that failing to properly determine a worker's employment eligibility under the stimulus plan could result in large numbers of undocumented workers getting taxpayer-funded jobs.