President Barack Obama will hold a town hall in Miami on Wednesday to discuss immigration -- a week after a Texas judge blocked -- at least temporarily -- Obama’s move to halt deportations for millions of undocumented immigrants.
MSNBC and Telemundo will host the bilingual town hall with Telemundo’s José Díaz-Balart interviewing Obama about immigration and the recently-stayed executive action. The town hall will be taped at Florida International University in Miami, the fourth largest public university in the U.S., which graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country.
The White House chose a town hall forum “because the president has a desire to engage in a genuine conversation about issues important to the community,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told MSNBC. He said the event would give Obama a chance to talk to Hispanics across the country and engage with Miami’s immigrant community.
“It makes for an interesting, dynamic place and a great symbol of how immigration has made our country unique,” Earnest said.
The networks said Obama will answer questions from the audience and through social media. Social media users can begin submitting questions today using the hashtag #ObamaTownHall.
The Department of Justice will appeal the temporary injunction, but the White House this week suspended plans to begin giving more than 4 million immigrants here illegally work permits.
The ruling late Monday by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen throws millions of immigrants into limbo. The injunction allows a coalition of 26 states more time to pursue a lawsuit to permanently stop Obama’s Nov. 20 executive order, which would shield from deportation more than 4 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
Republicans charge Obama overstepped his authority when he issued the executive order; he has said his hands were tied because the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to take up immigration legislation cleared y the Senate.