At a star-studded fundraiser at Magic Johnson’s home in Los Angeles, President Barack Obama on Monday backed off his insistence that comprehensive immigration reform can get done this year, saying he now believed it would pass “sooner or later.”
“I’m confident we’re gonna get immigration reform passed, sooner or later, because it’s the right thing to do,” Obama reportedly said.
Obama spoke about comprehensive immigration reform, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of working class Americans, earlier in the day in San Francisco. Obama had previously insisted that he thought immigration reform could get done this year.
Obama indicated last week that he would be okay with immigration reform being broken up into various pieces so long as all of the pieces passed, including the pathway to citizenship provision. House Republicans have also indicated that they wanted “piecemeal” bills, with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) saying that immigration reform was “absolutely not” dead this Congress.
Tickets to the fundraiser were reportedly priced between $2,500 to $15,000 per person, and the guest list included:
Samuel and LaToya Jackson, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Antawn Jamison and Ashley Lewis, Diane Keaton, the Clippers’ J.J. Redick and wife Chelsea, as well as a number of members of California’s congressional delegation. Joining Obama will be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.).
Magic Johnson effusively tweeted about the event, saying a “lifelong dream” of his came true and that hosting Obama was greater than his five NBA championships, Olympic gold medal, and 3 MVP awards.
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