WASHINGTON — Reform activists emerged from a meeting with US President Barack Obama Thursday convinced that he could enact sweeping immigration reform this year, despite a toxic political environment.
Obama campaigned on a promise to push a plan to offer legal status to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States following several failed attempts by his predecessor George W. Bush to enact reform.
But the volatile politics of a mid-term congressional election year and an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent have many observers doubting whether political momentum can be built on such an explosive issue.
Obama met a group of activists in the White House for more than an hour on Thursday, and also consulted two key senators, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Charles Schumer, to take the temperature on Capitol Hill.
The White House has said it wants to see evidence of bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform before it attempts to move a bill through Congress.
Obama said in a statement after the meeting that he was pleased to learn of progress wrought by the two senators on the issue, but did not offer a timetable for action.
"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," Obama said.
Immigration activists who met Obama expressed optimism that the administration, despite its problems in breaking a legislative log-jam in Congress, could still enact immigration reform.
"We walk away from this very productive meeting optimistic that if the White House follows through on its commitments, comprehensive reform can be achieved this year," said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change.
Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, said that it expected Obama to follow through on his promise to fix the "broken" US immigration system.
"The president indicated that his administration is committed to driving a bill forward in the spring of 2010," Noorani said.
Obama has tasked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano with seeking ways to secure US borders and offer the millions of undocumented immigrants in the country -- the vast majority of whom are Hispanic -- a chance to obtain legal status.
Attempts to pass immigration reform failed in Congress in 2006 and 2007 in a bitter political environment similar to the current climate on Capitol Hill.
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