Is President Obama Serious on Immigration Reform?

America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/11/10 at 08:40pm

Is President Obama Serious on Immigration Reform?

That's the question many grassroots immigration reform advocates were asking, heading into today's meeting at the White House. It's the question the tens of thousands of advocates coming to Washington on March 21st to push for real reform are looking to answer. It's a question that the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights' Joshua Hoyt posed in an Op-ed for the Washington Post last week. He talked specifically about the danger of alienating Latino voters in 2010, who helped flip four states for Obama in 2008.

We caught up with Hoyt after his meeting with President Obama, high level White House officials, and about a dozen reform advocates from across the country-- watch the interview:

It's a little hard to hear, but he begins:

I spent an hour and a quarter in the Roosevelt Room with President Obama, and he promised that he's still committed to comprehensive immigration reform. He said we gotta get more Republicans active-- but the Democrats are there, in the majority, and the Republicans aren't. We asked him to prove that was true by getting a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate. He said he would do that... We'll see what happens."

Prominent progressive blogger John Aravosis described the ratcheting-up of pressure leading up to the meeting as a bold move by reform advocates, at a time when many progressive issues have fallen off the President's radar (and the Senate's calendar). Indeed, the President's schedule was filled with three meetings on immigration today, the second of which involved Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC), who are leading the charge to move a bipartisan bill forward.

The Wall Street Journal reports, in "Obama 'Fully Committed' to Revising Immigration Laws:"

WASHINGTON -- A pair of senators trying to put together a comprehensive immigration bill showed their outline to President Barack Obama Thursday and asked his help in recruiting additional Senate backers. But with a full plate already and elections looming, it was unclear how involved the White House plans to get on the issue.

Earlier in the day, the president also met with frustrated immigration activists, who pressed him to more publicly press the case.

"It was a feisty conversation," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. "We asked the president to increase his public leadership for comprehensive immigration legislation."

In a statement, the president said he is fully committed to revising immigration laws but presented no timeline for moving forward. "I told both the senators and the community leaders that my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is unwavering, and that I will continue to be their partner in this important effort," Mr. Obama said.

In "Obama gets pressed on immigration issue," USA Today reports:

Given all on Obama's political plate, is immigration doable before the Nov. 2 congressional elections? White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it depends on bipartisan support, and he will gauge the chances of that during his meeting with Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. [...]

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, said, "For months, the White House and congressional staff have worked behind the scenes to advance comprehensive immigration reform.

"But what's been missing," he said, "is a clear and public commitment from the president to use his political capital to advance reform this year as promised."

NPR reports, in "Advocates Aim To Revive Immigration Overhaul:"

The president talked about those challenges Thursday in his meeting with immigration advocates. Their message for him is that just talking isn't enough.

Check out more videos and background on the meeting, as well as the official White House statement, over at Latina Lista.