Obama on Immigration: A Legacy of Failure 1st in a Series based on a Special Report "Detention, Deportation, and Devastation"

The views expressed in this series are entirely my own and do not necessarily represent those of the USHLI Board, staff, or our donors.

When a Latina leader referred to President Barack Obama as the "Deporter in Chief" earlier this year in Washington, DC, I felt a great sense of relief and revival.  At last, one of our leaders finally said what I am sure many of us had been feeling for years.  I for one had had my fill of his reprehensible anti-immigrant policies since the middle of his first term.  Those of us who had high hopes for change following the impactful marches of 2006 and the political sea change that followed can only conclude that Obama was ill-advised by his inner circle and ill-served by his staff from Day One on the issue of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.   

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) recently released a "must read" report entitled Detention, Deportation, and Devastation: The Disproportionate Effect of Deportations on the Latino Community. 

In my view the well-researched report chronicles the failures of a weak President and inept Congress.  The only thing the two branches agree on is that the system is broken.  Truth be told, they both lack the courage and the inner strength of their convictions to fix the problem. 

Meanwhile Obama is still telling anyone who will listen that he is the immigration champion!  As a candidate he told Latinos everywhere "Si Se Puede!"  Since his election all we've heard from him is "Yo No Puedo" and "No Se Puede".  Obama never will be our immigration champion because real champions don't squander opportunities to win, which he did five years ago.  He's a cheerleader, a Supporter in Chief.  That's all we have in the White House.  This is clearly our fight, which we have to win to save our families from his deportation policies.

In the Introduction the report states ".... the Obama Administration has implemented and pursued immigration enforcement policies and practices that have resulted in historically unprecedented numbers of removals/deportations of immigrants living ....in the United States.  The Administration's immigration enforcement choices carved swaths of devastation across the Latino community, leaving a humanitarian and moral crisis in its wake."  "The Latino community, correctly, assigns culpability to the Obama Administration due to the Executive Branch's plenary role in the execution of immigration enforcement."  (Part 2 next week)     

 

Juan Andrade, Jr.

USHLI President