On Monday, President Barack Obama will make a luncheon speech at the National Conference of La Raza’s (NCLR) annual conference in Washington, DC. While most of the political class is mesmerized by the debt ceiling negotiations, millions of Latinos will be focused on what the president says -- or doesn’t say -- about immigration reform.
The fact that he’s speaking at the NCLR conference has special meaning for Latinos and their allies. In July of 2008, at the NCLR annual conference in San Diego, candidate Obama famously promised to make immigration reform a priority during the first year of his presidency. Here’s part of what he said just three years ago:
Well, I don't know about you, but 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. And that's the commitment I'm making to you. I marched with you in the streets of Chicago. I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And 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.
The speech – especially “the promise” – electrified the crowd and galvanized the Latino vote for Obama’s campaign. In 2008, Obama went on to carry four swing states that George W. Bush had won just four years earlier: Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida. Latinos turned out in record numbers and swung from red to blue more than any other voter group.
Three years later, with the president having failed to keep his promise, and with immigration being an even more important issue to Latino voters, an increasing numbers of Latino voters are unhappy with the president.
Recent polling by Latino Decisions shows that immigration is the number one issue for Latinos, topping the economy and jobs by 51 percent to 35 percent (education came in third at 18 percent). In recent Gallup polling, Obama’s approval ratings hover at around 50 percent from a community that previously had him at high 70s approval rating early in his presidency. Moreover, three successive 2011 tracking polls by Latino Decisions shows that less than 50 percent of Latino voters are certain to vote for Obama in 2012 (he won 67 percent in 2008).
This is how Gabriel Sanchez, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico and Research Director for Latino Decisions, analyzes the situation:
Over the past year more than 400,000 people were deported by Immigration Customs and Enforcement, and several states have passed controversial immigration laws in line with Arizona’s SB1070. Furthermore, just this week when speaking about potential solutions to immigration, Congressman Mo Brooks (Republican from Alabama) promised that he would do anything "short of shooting" undocumented immigrants. This is just the latest indicator of the growing hostility that has characterized the political climate surrounding immigration policy over the past several years. As reflected in the data presented in this blog, the Latino population is very conscious of this tension, as a robust 76% of Latino registered voters believe that an anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant environment exists today. Furthermore, a sizable segment of the Latino electorate knows someone who is undocumented and/or someone who has been deported due to their immigration status. The personal relationship Latinos have to state and federal immigration policy helps to explain why there has been a major shift in Latino attitudes toward immigration, and is also impacting Latinos’ approval of the job President Obama is doing reforming immigration policy. It will therefore be extremely difficult to engage Latino voters without addressing what is becoming painfully obvious: that for Latinos, immigration is no longer about politics, it’s personal.
These are the sentiments that will charge the room at the NCLR conference as the president steps to the podium.
Without a doubt, President Obama will use the speech to reiterate his support for comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act. He will once again call on Republicans to stop blocking progress on these measures. And these riffs will be well received. But the thousands of Latinos in the room and the millions paying attention around the country will be listening intently to see if the president offers something new, something with edge, something for right now. They know that Republican control of the House means pro-immigrant legislative measures don’t stand much of a chance in this Congress. They want the president to use his authority to make life better in immigrant communities immediately.
Here are some bold administrative moves that would energize Latinos across the land:
The NCLR speech will be a telling moment. The anti-immigrant zeal of Republicans at all levels of government has Latinos deeply concerned. But the fact that President Obama has not leaned into this issue and fought as hard as he might for a community tired of being demonized and disrespected is also concerning. On Monday, they will find out if the candidate who promised to fight for them three years ago is a president who is willing to do so now.
Cross-Posted at America's Voice.
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You will never here from a Sharry type "let's fix it", "create a better verification system", etc. This is because they are opposed to verification in general for one simple reason--it prevents illegal alien hiring.
"This is no reason not to use eVerify."
It does one single thing--catches fake ID's in which the name does not match the number. If you're against verification, you're FOR the acceptance of fake ID's in order to obtain employment.
"The cost to an employer for using eVerify is trivial, not a burden in the least."
The E-Verify is a burden argument doesn't hold water. I-9 is a burden but it already exists with or without E-Verify. E-Verify *protects* the honest employer by providing a safe harbor. Without E-Verify, you may make a good faith determination of document authenticity and still get nailed in an audit.
Uh, Frank. E-Verify (or its equivalent) is a cornerstone of the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" your outfit is pushing. If it's so horrible, how can you in good conscience be for CIR? A cynic would say the answer is you just want the amnesty and could not care less about any enforcement. This would be a logical conclusion based on your opposition to *every* form of enforcement proposed which is not tied to amnesty.
We have been bamboozled again by our politicians. This is no different than Wall Street bail outs, joblessness, failed health care, and housing crises all caused by the super rich.
Dear President Obama,
Failed US NAFTA, immigration, and drug enforcement policies have created the narco/economic crises in Mexico that have left close to 40,000 people killed since 2006.
The US government continues to ignore these issues. Therefore, we support mass asylum for undocumented Mexicans living within the US, and mass exodus and asylum for all of those Mexicans who have been persecuted as a result of NAFTA and the US backed war on drugs.
When the millions of Mexican undocumented living within the US and the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans persecuted by the drug war all started systematically applying for US asylum, US immigration as we know it would implode.
Make Washington make Mexico clean up its act. It will be then and only then when US Taxpayers have more jobs and less congestion in our hospitals and schools.
But American voters need to wake up.
Please read this article.
http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=1855
Are you ready to act?
http://twopesos-protestfortheundocumented.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
It's up to MEXICANS to make the Mexican government "clean up its act". As for the war on drugs, isn't it interesting that we also share a border with Canada, but that CANADIANS don't seem to have the same issue with drug violence that Mexico does? Could it possibly be that in keeping Mexicans poor, and that Mexicans in tolerating corruption by their elites, have created the conditions that lead to drug violence? The main differences between Canada and Mexico are income distribution (Mexico has a lot more extremely poor despite its wealth) and culture, both of which are MEXICO's responsibility to address.
Do you think that the elite who run both countries operate independently of each other? They conspire to profit at the expense and suffering of the good people of both countries.
You buy right into the bi national and global elite's game plan by believing that Mexico's problem is only Mexico's responsibility.
What complaint do the Latinos (a misnomer for Mexican) have when thousands of their countrymen and women are entering the United States illegally (Yes, illegally) every year and making out rather well in our economy?
Without a protected border why don't we just post signs saying something like: "WELCOME ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM MEXICO!! THIS WAY TO YOUR AIRCONDITIONED CABINS WITH FULL AMENITIES, PLUS A LISTING OF WHERE THE JOBS ARE"
Can we stop conflating legal immigration with illegal immigration, regardless of origin? Can there be an intellectually honest conversation about it?
I am really tired of Sharry lying about the facts, and saying that Democrats must support the Chamber of Commerce types who fund him. We also need to remember that over ONE million LEGAL immgrants enter the US every year. The highest numbers for illegals is around 500,000/yr. The legal immigrants will become voters a LOT quicker than the illegals ever will. How do you think the legal immigrants will like amnesty, as they watch all the line jumpers cut in front of them? THAT will make damn sure that those folks WILL vote GOP if the DREAM act is passed or any amnesty.
The use of E-Verify would help, so it has some errors, name one federal program that doesn't. First stop the flood of illegal immigrants then propose solutions for those already here. Fines, getting at the end of line, learn to speak, write and read English should be the minimums besides the normal requirements to be nationalized.
Close foreign military bases, and redeploy along the southern border, whilst creating a buffer zone whereby no rights are given to any illegal immigrants crossing the border.
Clamp down on employers using illegal workers, implement e-verify.
Remove all illegal immigrants from here on in.
AMNESTY
THEY WILL GRANT AMNESTY
1 Democrats are salivating for amnesty so they can garner the millions of Hispanic new voters who like the author suggests are connected to the issue
2 Republicans want love and embrace amnesty, because their corporate puppet masters are demanding amnesty so they can keep wages low and slave labor
3 Hispanics are split on the issue but lean toward Amnesty
4 Large corporations love amnesty and are paying large coin to puppets in DC to get it
5 Small businesses love amnesty so they can undercut American wages
6 Banks, Wall Street, realestate investors, retail markets, auto industry etc etc.. all want amnesty
7 Foreign gov't want amnesty (Mexico, Canada, Haiti, etc..)
EVERYONE WANTS AMNESTY
except the average American worker and their vote wont matter. scream, whine, cry, throw things, kick your feet it wont matter. vote republican wont matter, vote democrat, wont matter. they will grant amnesty. It's coming.
AMNESTY IS COMING
Mark your caledars
When it comes, Republicans will scream "SEE WE TOLD YOU OBAMA WOULD GRANT AMNESTY!! But secretly they LOVE amnesty and can't wait to get it.
Bear Sterns used "macro-economic" indicators for their estimate -- school enrollments remittances, etc. Obama's estimate relies solely on the Census. But recent studies, for example, indicate the Census under-counted New York State Brazilian illegals by as much as 90%.
The notion that La Raza represents all Latinos simply isn't true. La Raza is a immigrant organization. It's headed by immigrants. Its issues are all immigrant issues. Native born Latinos with no ties to immigrants have no more interest in seeing 46 million illegals become instant citizens than any one else.
Finally, absent from this discussion are the millions of non-Hispanic illegals. Caribbeans come to the U.S for visits and simply never return home. This has been going on for decades. Some estimate that's another 5-10 illegals in the mix.