Obama defended his decision in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” set to air tomorrow, and said it wasn’t made to protect Democrats’ control of the Senate. He said a surge of unaccompanied Central American children crossing into the U.S. this summer affected his political calculations.
“The truth of the matter is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem,” Obama said in an excerpt of the interview broadcast today.
Obama said that although many Americans believe there is a crisis on the border, the number of children arriving has slowed, and he needs more time to explain the actions he intends to take later this year.
“I also want to make sure that the public understands why we’re doing this, why it’s the right thing for the American people, why it’s the right thing for the American economy,” Obama said.
Obama’s decision angered Latino groups and other immigration advocates that support reducing deportations and other policy changes. The president received 73 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election.
“The president’s latest broken promise is another slap to the face of the Latino and immigrant community,” Cristina Jimenez, managing director for United We Dream, a Washington-based group that advocates for immigrant youth, said in a statement.