But even Calderon, a graduating senior at Florida International University (FIU) and an immigration activist, had to concede that history was made Wednesday when he and other undocumented students were seated just a few feet away from the commander-in-chief.
“It was historic,” said Calderon, who fled with his family to the U.S. from Honduras nine years ago. “It was a great opportunity to get to see the president even though I’m undocumented.”
Calderon sat with a crowd of about 240 people in an auditorium at FIU, as Obama outlined his views on immigration and pushed an ambitious plan for undocumented students for the last year of his administration.
Even as many Latinos are sharply divided over some of Obama’s immigration policies, he was greeted with a warm reception at the town hall meeting moderated by Jose Diaz-Balart, a television anchor with the Spanish-language network Telemundo.
“We live immigration in this community,” FIU President Mark Rosenberg told the audience before Obama took the stage. “So this is the appropriate place to have this conversation.”
Earlier in the day, the president met with immigration advocates at the White House to discuss the status of his executive actions. The meeting followed a decision by a Texas federal court judge to block implementation of Obama’s programs, which would have extended relief from deportation to young undocumented immigrants, or DREAMers, brought to the U.S as children as well as to undocumented parents of citizens or legal resident children.
