Immigration Reform 2013: Obama Visits San Francisco to Push for Immigration Reform

President Obama is touring the West Coast this week, starting with a trip to San Francisco to raise campaign money and speak about immigration reform. 

Obama headlined two fundraisers in Seattle Sunday night, then flew to San Francisco Monday morning to discuss immigration at the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center. After speaking in San Francisco, he will attend two fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee, USA Today confirms. 

In his remarks, Obama will call on the House to act on the comprehensive immigration reform bill, which includes strengthening border security while creating a pathway to citizenship for those who are undocumented.  

Obama will then headline a fundraiser at the San Francisco Jazz Center later on Monday. However, local enthusiasm for the president's visit has been lacking. Some tickets to the fundraiser are being offered at deep discounts, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The president has visited the Bay Area eight times in the last two and a half years. 

At one of the fundraisers in Seattle, the president referred to the National Security Agency revelations, the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. last year and events in the Middle East as reasons why people are disappointed in the United States. He also said that the House of Representatives has been a "barrier to progress" in regard to immigration reform, and that there would be consensus on the issue if partisan politics was put aside, the New York Daily News reports. 

The Democratically led Senate passed an immigration bill in June, but it has not made any progress in the Republican-majority House. Many GOP representatives say the bill is akin to amnesty for those who have broken the law.  

"I'm not a particularly ideological person," he said, adding that pragmatism is necessary to advance policies that are of supreme importance. 

On Sunday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that immigration reform "is going to happen." However, the House majority whip would not lay out a timeline as to when the bill will come to a vote, according to The Hill. 

"We need to fix this system," McCarthy said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week that immigration reform is not dead on arrival, and that it may be passed in a piecemeal fashion, which Obama has said he would agree to. 

Obama will then fly to Los Angeles, where he will headline two more fundraisers for Democratic House and Senate campaign committees.