Obama Visits Nashville To Promote His Immigration Action

President Obama addresses a small group at Casa Azafran in South Nashville. Credit: Bobby Allyn/WPLN

President Obama sat in front of an intimate audience of 75 Nashvillians on Tuesday and fielded questions about his recent executive action on immigration.

Obama took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and answered for about an hour sitting on a stool in a small room in Caza Azafran on Nolensville Pike.

He said the policies he’s pursued on immigration, including last’s month’s action, could be undone by the next president.

“It’s true that theoretically a future administration could do something that I think would be very damaging,” Obama said. “It’s not likely, politically, that they’d reverse everything that we’ve done, but it could be that some people then end up being in a disadvantageous position.”

He said Tennessee immigrants often start businesses faster than many native-born residents. They create jobs, he said, making the city a more prosperous, innovative place.

“And of course, they make the food better,” Obama said to audience laughter. “I know that Tennessee BBQ is pretty popular, but Korean BBQ is pretty good too.”

Asked why many Americans are wary of the executive action, Obama said it’s because his opponents have seized on the concept of amnesty. To some, he said, it’s perceived as people in the country illegally getting something for nothing.

“And when you describe for people that, in fact, you do have to get a background check, you do have to register, you do have to pay fines, you do have to pay back-taxes, then people feel differently,” Obama said.  “But that’s never advertised by opponents.  And that’s one reason why, by the way, that I’ve said to immigrant rights groups, you have to describe the responsibility side of this and not just the rights side of this.”

A couple hundred protesters assembled across the street from the president’s speech. Nashville’s visit marks the third stop he’s made outside of Washington to rally support, and defend, his move to allow up to 5 million undocumented immigrants — roughly half the total amount — to avoid deportation, helping them earn work permits.

Meanwhile, the president’s visit was met with a chorus of boos from Republican lawmakers across the state.

“Why should unemployed Tennesseans have to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs? And why should those who break our laws to come here be rewarded while so many wait to come here legally?” Congresswoman Diane Black said in a statement. “But now he has changed his mind and chosen Nashville as a destination to publicly thumb his nose at the American electorate that just rebuked him in the last election. The Obama Presidency has been a disaster and can’t end soon enough.”