President Obama blamed congressional Republicans for the fact that comprehensive immigration reform has stalled during his first term as president during a Univision “Meet the Candidates” town hall Thursday afternoon in Miami.
Obama pointed to both the immediacy of the financial crisis in the first months of his term and Republican intransigence on immigration.
Obama recalled bringing together lawmakers, including a large number of Republicans who had supported comprehensive reform in the past, for a discussion on advancing a reform bill. “What I confess I did not expect,” Obama said, is that Republicans who had long supported reform like Sen. John McCain would “suddenly walk away.”
Obama said he still has hope that even without full control of Congress during a second term, both parties can come together to pass a comprehensive reform plan.
