Obama Appears in Univision Forum, Defends Record on Immigration Reform (Live Stream)

President Barack Obama sat down with Univision hosts Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas on Thursday to participate in a town hall forum hosted by the Spanish-language network at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. His opponent, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared in a similar show on Wednesday.

The show, called 'Encuentro con Barack Obama' or "Meet the Candidate with Barack Obama,' was aired live on Thursday at 2 p.m. EST and will be re-aired on the network at 10 p.m. EST. During the interview, Obama was asked about his failure to keep his promises concerning immigration reform during his first term as president.

Ramos told Obama, "I want you to acknowledge that you did not keep your promise," according to CNN. The President then responded that he had been consumed  by efforts to improve the economy and blamed his political opponents for keeping immigration reforms from passing.

"What I confess I did not expect...is that Republicans who had previously supported comprehensive immigration reform...suddenly would walk away," he said. "That's what I did not anticipate."

According to CNN, the President also took time to defend his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals plan. "I did this because I met young people all across the country, wonderful kids who sometimes were valedictorians, were participating in the community, had aspirations to go to college. Some were serving in our military," Obama said. "There's no way you would think it was fair or just for us to have them suffering under a cloud of deportation."

The forum also included questions regarding the teacher strikes and the Mexican drug war, as well as what the he identified as his biggest failure in office.

Obama told Ramos, "Jorge, as you remind me, my biggest failure is that we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done. But it's not for lack of trying or desire."

Both presidential candidates have tried to obtain, and maintain, the Latino vote. A recent poll by Latino Decisions shows the President leading Romney 68 percent to 26 percent among Hispanic voters. Obama also has a reported high support rate among Latina women.

The town hall forum, which was co-sponsored by Facebook and live streamed online, is scheduled to air on Univision on Thursday night. You can watch a live stream of the forum here.