Obama needs to be a leader on immigration
As a Latina, I am fed up with President Obama’s lack of leadership on immigration reform.
Not addressing immigration head-on contributes to the invisibility of immigrants and fuels an atmosphere of discrimination and hatred against Latinos. This ultimately leads to an increase in hate crimes.
To be fair, Congress is not doing much on this issue, either.
Instead, the deep partisan divide is paralyzing our government and limiting Obama’s ability to lead.
By narrowly focusing on enforcement only and using the rhetoric of rewarding “law-abiding immigrants,” Obama, in his State of the Union speech, at best ignored the 11.5 million undocumented people — many of whom live in families with U.S.-born children — or, at worst, criminalized them.
Obama touched on the noncontroversial themes of our historical roots as a nation built by immigrants and yet the suffering of today’s immigrants, who are currently building this nation, was not mentioned. He failed to remind us that this nation’s immigration policy has historically excluded people from countries deemed racially inferior. He had an opportunity to call on us to move beyond such prejudices, but he missed it.
Yes, undocumented immigrants who have crossed the border without documents have committed a civil infraction. As it is also true that immigrants who overstay their visas also ignore civil law. Yet none of the immigration-related violations are serious crimes.
Undocumented immigrants are guilty of following human survival instincts by choosing life over death, by feeding their families instead of watching them slowly die of starvation.
In many cases, a destructive U.S. foreign policy has created the conditions that force people to leave their home countries and venture into ours. Some U.S. multinational corporations also share responsibility for driving people off their lands or for hiring them at a pittance, and then discarding them and moving operations to an even cheaper country. Abandoned, these people pack up everything and head north.
Latinos voted overwhelmingly to elect Obama, and it was our vote in swing states like Arizona, Florida and New Mexico that was critical to his win. Yet when it comes to immigration, one of the top issues in our community, so far he is doing worse than President Bush. We are now struggling to accept that the candidate we worked hard to elect has sold us down the river.
More immigrants have been deported in Obama’s first year than in the last year of the Bush administration. Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have found a behind-the-scenes strategy to get rid of immigrants. They have the immigration agency comb through local jails and place deportation holds on anyone suspected of being undocumented. Local police are piling on, even in “sanctuary” cities, by increasing their arrests of immigrants for minor crimes such as jaywalking and loitering.
These immigrants don’t get their day in court. Instead, they are sent to one of the country’s various detentions centers, many of them run by private companies that make large profits out of holding undocumented immigrants in abysmal conditions.
We Latinos expected more from Obama. With his frequent quotes from Martin Luther King, with his appropriation of Cesar Chavez’s slogan “si, se puede,” we thought he would create an immigration policy based on equity and justice.
Instead, it’s been more of the same — or worse.
President Obama is at risk of losing his Latino base — and surrendering the moral high ground — unless he champions the rights of immigrants.
Ana C. Perez is the executive director of the Central American Resources Center (CARECEN) in San Francisco and the president of the Salvadoran American National Network (SANN). She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.
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Comments
Yesterday, I read in column regarding President Obama's immigration policy in my Rochester Democrat and Chronicle editorial section. I am writing you because I have several comments on your column and its contents.
First, I fully realize that this country needs a new immigration policy, one that realistically deals with our porous border and the millions of illegal immigrants already living in this country. Whether you wish you describe those living here illegally or not, the fact remains they are here illegally. They do not have visas or as in some of the cases (a far smaller minority), they have overstayed their visas. Those who have immigrated here through the proper channels, legally, are law abiding. Again, that is a fact whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. In addition, to call being in this country a civil infraction is simply sugar coating a clearly illegal act that can result in deportation. Civil infractions are speeding tickets. They are not being in this country illegally. I realize the current immigration policy is broken and ,personally, I believe we need to find a way for those here illegally to obtain a legal status.
Second, you stated that President Obama is doing nothing to address the immigration issue. Let me ask, what problem would you have him put aside to address immigration? Lest you have forgotten, the country is in two wars. President Obama is attempting to extradicate the country from Iraq and attempting to stabilize Afghanistan so we can leave. The President also inherited an economy in a free fall with the auto companies about to enter bankruptcy, Wall Street collapsing, unemployment escalating, home foreclosures in numbers unheard of and a whole slate of other economic problems. He has been attempting to change the health care system in this country which left unchanged will not only leave more people without coverage as the years pass but will also consume more of the country's GDP in the long run. He has to deal with the closing of GITMO and trials for GITMO prisoners. Global warming is another crucial issue needing his attention and getting an comprehensive energy bill will be met with intense opposition. President Obama also has to contend with the most negative and nasty opposition that any president has in my lifetime.
Third, you state that President Obama risks losing the Latina vote. Let me ask you, just who will the Latinos vote for? Are you really going to vote for candidates of the Republican party, the one that is openly and unapologetically hostile to immigrants, in particular, Latino immigrants? Have you not been listening these past years? Even the once pro-immigration John McCain has reversed his position. It was not the Democrats who approve the border wall and it certainly has not been the Democrats who have been using all the demonizing rhetoric. Claiming President Obama is using a back door strategy to "rid" the country of its illegal immigrants is at best inflammatory and, at worst,doubtful. I highly doubt he and Janet Napolitano sat down and decided to instruct every jail in the country to profile Latinos to deport. Local jails can figure pretty easily whether someone is undocumented.
Lastly, you stated that you are "fed up with President Obama's lack of leadership on immigration reform." Let me very clear on this last point. I am fed up with people who claim to be his supporters who write columns warning him that he will lose their support if he does not do exactly what they want when they want it. President Obama has been in office exactly one year. He came into the job facing enormous challenges, ones that are far more pressing than immigration. Do I wish he could address everything everyone wants like immigration, absolutely ... but he can't. President Obama has enough critics and more than enough enemies. He does not need so-called supporters pouting, whining and stomping their feet when they don't get their way and make no mistake, that is what you are doing when you write columns like this one. Give him a break and give him a chance to move some things off his plate and so he can move some on.