President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama paid a visit to protesters who are conducting a group fast in hopes of pushing Congress to pass a bill on immigration.
The Obamas released a statement on the meeting Friday, in which they thanked organizers Eliseo Medina and Dae Joong Yoon, along with "all of the fasters for their sacrifice and dedication, and told them that the country is behind them on immigration reform," according to White House officials who talked to USA Today.
The president told the group of people assembled on the National Mall in Washington who were taking part in the Fast for Families strike that "it is not a question of whether immigration reform will pass, but how soon."
"He said that the only thing standing in the way is politics, and it is the commitment to change from advocates like these brave fasters that will help pressure the House to finally act," the White House statement read.
Supporters of the fast are looking to put pressure on Congress, which is currently divided along party lines concerning an immigration reform bill that was initially passed by the Senate, then stopped by House Republicans in June. According to USA Today, activists have started increasingly urging the President to stop deportations of undocumented immigrants and widen a deferred action policy that eases up on children brought illegally to the United States.
Some have taken to calling on the President for help - literally. Last week, a University of California, Berkeley alumnus and South Korean immigrant named Ju Hong stood up and yelled during a speech delivered by the POTUS in San Francisco's Chinatown.
"Mr. President, please use your executive order to halt deportations for all 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in this country right now," Ju reportedly shouted during the event.
President Obama has publicly backed the immigration reform bill, and verbalized his support for the fasters during a speech in the northern California city on Friday.
"Right now, I'm seeing brave advocates who have been fasting for two weeks in the shadow of the Capitol, sacrificing themselves in an effort to get Congress to act," he said
Vice President Joe Biden has also reportedly visited the protestors, along with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.
