Frustrated Calls for Immigration Leadership from President Obama (Then and Now)

America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/18/10 at 01:02pm

This week has seen mounting pressure on President Obama to make good on his promise to reform our dysfunctional immigration system. From key community organizers who are planning this Sunday's March for America to the first Member of Congress to endorse then-Senator Obama's presidential bid, here are a few important voices on the matter.

Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) had this to say today at Huffington Post, in a piece called "Obama on Immigration: Then and Now:"

Three years ago, when I met with Senator Barack Obama in his Chicago office and we contemplated his possible run for the presidency, I was enthusiastic.

On that day, it was hard for me to imagine a time I would have to say no to Barack Obama when he asked me for support. But last week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sat down with the president, and he asked us to vote for the health care reform bill -- a bill that denies immigrants the opportunity to purchase health care with their own money. It was one more in a string of disappointments for the Hispanic community, and today, I no longer find myself able to confidently say "yes" when President Obama asks me for his support.

Gutierrez continues with a comparison of Obama's committments to the Latino community as a candidate and his record as President:

After Barack Obama announced his candidacy, I was in the field from coast to coast promoting him. I promised the Latino community that --at last-- we had a candidate who would fight for us and for our causes.

Then, as a candidate, Senator Obama told packed auditoriums, "I think it's time for a President who won't walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular."

Then, he said, "I will make it a top priority in my first year as President - not just because we need to secure our borders and get control of who comes into our country. And not just because we have to crack down on employers abusing undocumented immigrants. But because we have to finally bring those 12 million people out of the shadows."

That was then. This is now.

Now, for Latinos in this country --for anyone who cares about fair, comprehensive and humane immigration reform-- Barack Obama has delivered "change." It's been a change for the worse.

Then, candidate Obama said "I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country."

Now, the President defines "universal" as everyone but immigrants, who are denied even the opportunity to pay into the system, to demonstrate their commitment to a healthier America, to access care anywhere but the emergency room at the greatest expense to us all.

Then, candidate Obama brought thousands of Latino activists to their feet by promising action on comprehensive immigration reform.

Now, President Obama devotes one out of 71 minutes in the State of the Union to immigration.

Then, he said, "We cannot and should not deport 12 million people. That would turn America into something we're not; something we don't want to be."

Now, in his first year alone, the President has deported a record 387,790 immigrants, ordering ICE to remove 13 percent more undocumented immigrants than George Bush did during his last year in office.

Now, as American families continue to be separated, as immigrant workers continue to be abused by employers, as the need for a fair and sensible solution becomes more urgent every day, this administration's action on comprehensive immigration reform can fairly be summarized with one word: nothing.

As a Democrat from Illinois, as a member of Congress who believes in and admires President Obama, it genuinely pains me to say that the facts show that this President has done no more to solve our immigration crisis than George W. Bush.

I'm not the only one to notice. On March 21, tens of thousands of frustrated and impatient people will march on Washington to tell Congress and the President that they have not forgotten the promises that were made to them about immigration reform. They will gather from across the country as human rights activists, as labor activists, as religious activists, as hard-working men and women who deserve fairness on the job. They will come as children who refuse to be separated from their parents and students who demand access to the education they have earned. And they will rally as Latinos who for the most part have supported the Democratic Party and whose power helped turn states like Florida and Colorado and Nevada a bright shade of blue.

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) Executive Director Joshua Hoyt published a strong op-ed in the Chicago Tribune today, written after last week's White House meeting:

There were years of intertwined friendships and relationships at the table, including my own with the president that began when he was a Chicago community organizer in 1986. Yet, despite all of these ties, we were there to tell him about his moral failure on immigration, and his looming political catastrophe.

Immigrant families are destroyed every day through deportations, Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group, told Obama. Latinos are angry and feel betrayed that the Obama White House has increased deportations and hasn't advanced reform, which could result in a nightmare for Democrats in the fall elections.

The president was just as blunt. He said that he and 45 to 47 Democratic senators support immigration reform. The problem, he said, is the lack of Republican support. Obama said his administration is shifting the focus of deportation onto undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. If Americans come to believe the government is serious about immigration enforcement, he said, they will support reform measures that allow undocumented immigrants to gain legal status here.

Obama's wrong. Immigration is hunting down teens, workers, mothers, not just criminals. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports, President George W. Bush's second term began with 246,000 deportations a year. Under Obama, the number is closer to 400,000. The administration's lack of leadership on immigration reform and its increased deportations of non-criminals has created a toxic relationship with Latino immigrants.

The president agreed to call on Republican senators to join in a bipartisan push, but the administration's spin is still that Republicans will need to step up first if immigration reform is going to be passed. This sounds like blame-shifting.

The president is poisoning the well of political support he received from Latinos. And Republicans aren't lining up to stand next to him on immigration.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of marchers will be on the streets of Washington, D.C. We hope that this participatory democracy will cause Republicans and Democrats to focus on legislative solutions for immigration reform. We will continue to push Obama and other leaders such as Sen. Dick Durbin to have courage.

In the U.S., we change stupid and broken laws. That is why first lady Michelle Obama and women across the U.S. can vote. That is why President Obama and I can eat at the same lunch counters in the South.

New York Daily News' Albor Ruiz reports in, "Putting feet down at key D.C. march:"

Fueled by anger and frustration about the administration's lack of action and its increase in policies that terrorized immigrant communities during the Bush years, the march will bring together leaders and organizations representing labor, people of faith and communities from across the country.

Carrying signs reading, "Friends make good on their promises," the marchers will demand leadership from President Obama to deliver on his promise of comprehensive reform.

"There is a great need for immigration to be fixed, and we have to do everything in our power to help it happen," said Alba Vázquez, one of the members of the Service Employees International Union who gathered yesterday at Local 32BJ's office in Manhattan to make calls urging fellow union members to join the march.

"I am marching because, for us as immigrants, reform is indispensable. We cannot wait any longer. Families are being separated and deported," added Vázquez, an American citizen and a New York City resident for 33 years. "We need an immigration system that works."

Advocates are leaving aside frustration and disappointment and getting more and more vocal about demanding the change that was promised: a functional, rational, and humane immigration system.

The tens of thousands of people marching to Washington from around the country this Sunday to join in the rally will also be looking for concrete leadership from the White House and concrete action from Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC), who are working to introduce bipartisan legislation in the Senate.

They will be coming together this Sunday under the banner, "Change Takes Courage."