Angela Kelley, the vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, said that activists also understood the importance of keeping up pressure on Republicans in the House, who have refused to consider a bipartisan Senate bill to overhaul immigration.
“Make no mistake,” she said. “It is the Republicans who are responsible for the fact that we don’t have reform today.”
In the meantime, Ms. Kelley said, she and other advocates for illegal immigrants were looking to Mr. Obama to slow the record number of deportations. She noted that more than 5,000 American children are in foster homes because one or both parents have been deported.
“We have reached a crisis point,” Ms. Kelley said.
“The question is,” she added, “which end of Pennsylvania Avenue” will fix the problem.