President Obama was heckled on Monday by a young man during his speech on immigration reform in San Fransisco. The young man was calling on the president to stop deportation.

“Mr. Obama, my family has been separated for 19 months now!” yelled a young man who stood with others behind the president. Obama continued to speak but the young man did not relent.  “Please, use your executive order,” the young man said, “to halt deportations from all 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in this country right now.”

“We agree that we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” the protestor continued, “but at the same time, you have a power to stop deportations for all.”

“Actually, I don’t,” the President responded. “And that’s why we’re here.” Several people then joined and started chanting, “Stop the deportations!” along with the “yes we can” slogan.

The president turned to address the heckler as his security detail tried to eject the young man out of the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center. Obama signaled them to let the young man stay. “I respect the passion of these young people because they feel deeply about the concerns for their families,” he said. “The easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws. He continued, “If in fact I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, I would do so.”

Having said that, the young man as well as those who had started chanting became calmer. “It won’t be as easy as just shouting. It requires us lobbying and getting it done.” Argued Obama.

“So for those of you who are committed to getting this done, I am gonna march with you and fight with you every step of the way to make sure that we are welcoming every striving, hardworking immigrant who sees America the same way we do,” he said.

(main image via YouTube)