White House officials view immigration as the president’s best chance to pass a major piece of domestic legislation in his final three years in office, largely because some GOP leaders believe their party must broaden its appeal to Latinos and Asian Americans before the 2016 election. Obama won reelection in 2012 with the support of more than 70 percent of those voters. At the same time, the president is facing mounting pressure from immigration advocates to halt deportations, which are on pace to soon top the 2 million mark during his tenure — more than the George W. Bush administration deported in eight years. Five House Democrats from Obama’s home state of Illinois, led by Rep. The AFL-CIO, which has supported Obama’s immigration push, called on him to use the speech to announce administrative action “to ease the deportation crisis that is wrecking workforces, families and communities.”
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