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Obama: promises immigration passage, but there is no date
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Overshadowed by the death of two mega-stars, by North Korea's threat to “wipeout the U.S. from the map,” and by the bloody civil movement in Iran; the news about the so awaited immigration reunion between a bipartisan group and President Barack Obama, passed to a second place.
Not much was revealed after the meeting that took place at the White House, Thursday. Obama’s previous pronunciations were reiterated.
"It's going to require some heavy lifting," Obama said to reporters after the meeting. "It's going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policymaking over short-term politics. That's what I'm committed to doing as president."
The president recognized the existence of differences about how to implement changes, but also said all parties involved in the debate agree that the current system is broken "and needs fixing.”
"There is not by any means consensus across the table," said Obama, who defined the issue as "sensitive and politically volatile."
As he has done before, the president expressed his commitment to immigration bill passage and said that any initiative for this purpose must focus on securing the borders and in opening the path to U.S. citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants.
According to a senior White House official, the president also said he wants to pass immigration reform “later this year or early next year,” which is the most concrete announcement about the subject, thus far.
There was optimism after the meeting, although it transcended that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had said in a breakfast with the press -prior to the meeting, that Obama does not have enough votes to pass a comprehensive reform bill. We’ll see.
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