April 15, 2012 - Colombia, SA - President Obama renewed his pledge to pursue his perennial promise and never accomplished goal of comprehensive immigration reform during a summit in Cartagena, Colombia this weekend. The President, met with Latin American political and business leaders in an effort to convince the Latin community that he truly cares about them.
Obama, arrived in Colombia on Friday, apparently courting the support of Hispanic voters in the presidential combat zone states like Florida, Nevada and Colorado.
His campaign considers Latinos a potentially critical voting community.
Interviewed by the Spanish-language television network Univision, Obama blamed a broken and disliked Congress for the inability of immigration reform to progress and assured that he will pursue immigration reforms as a primary priority if re-elected.
"I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term. I want to try this year," the President said on Univision's Al punto, according to text released by Univision.
Obama has promised immigration reform throughout his presidency, and these new statements echo his 2008 campaign promise that he would get reform passed within a year of entering the White House. Just last May, President Obama articulation a new way forward for resolving the broken immigration system. Echoing and expanding upon the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship, and the American Dream, the President invited the American public to join him in pressing Congress for comprehensive immigration reform. But this resolve fizzled and again, comprehensive immigration reform was placed on the back burner. Is it possible that the President means what he say; that the desperately needed immigration reform will begin working towards fruition or is it just another “red-herring;” a trick to move the mountain of Latinos to the voting booth, assuring him a victory in November?