President Barak Obama, among other things, challenged the Congress to pass legislation to provide a path to citizenship for illegal and legal students who are getting an education in this country, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

President Obama addressed those who came into the US more recently to “study science, business and engineering”. His argument for legal students to find a way to citizenship is that “as soon as they graduate we sent them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else”.

President Obama addressed the issue of “many hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country …who aren’t yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children.” They are “through and through” Americans but faces the threat of deportation. His argument for illegal children is that they get an education here in the US and are faced with an uncertain future.

He challenged the Congress to pass legislation paving the way for the above to get citizenship. In an election year, it is anyone’s guess what the Congress will do. But no matter what, this issue will get ample attention in coming months.