In an interview with Univision Radio, President Barack Obama said that he has "five years" left in his presidency to figure out issues like comprehensive immigration reform. Obama assured a largely Hispanic audience that he has not given up on getting an immigration bill done — one that would provide a pathway to citizenship.
"My presidency is not over," Obama told Univision's Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo. "I’ve got another five years coming up. We’re going to get this done."
Emphasizing his support for comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship, the President said that Hispanic voters would ultimately face an easy choice in deciding between him and the Republican nominee in November. He said that none of the republican candidates support immigration reform and, their leading candidate has said he would veto the Dream Act.
He felt that the choice, come November would be an easy one for Hispanics. The President defended his administration's approach to immigration, which has set new records for deportations, saying that the law needed to be changed and Congress needs to act.
Hispanic voters remain an important part of Obama's coalition, and though his approval has dropped in some polls, he still retains a favorable rating of almost 2 to 1over republicans, according a poll by Univision.
Evangelical Christian leaders call for comprehensive immigration reform
Evangelical Christian leaders this week called for a “humane” renovation of the U.S. immigration law in response to tough crackdowns on immigrants enacted by Alabama and other states. “Because I’m a Christian we trust in comprehensive, common-sense, benevolent immigration policy,” the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, of the New York-based National Latino Evangelical Coalition, told a discussion of leaders in Birmingham. Rev Salguero emphasized that he was not suggesting that people break the law, only that we remodel the damaged law, which is complex and difficult but not impossible to reform.
Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah have all upheld “omnibus” immigration crackdowns since Arizona passed its tough immigration law in 2010, giving authorities the right to check the status of all those they arrested or suspected of being in the state illegally. That part of the law has been blocked by the courts.
Alabama’s immigration law, requires authorities to detain people suspected of being illegal immigrants if they cannot furnish of legal status when stopped .
The forum in Birmingham was the second in what organizers say will be a series church conferences on immigration around the nation, calling on democrats and republicans to pass immigration reform that is just and compassionate.