Immigration reform may be out of the legislative agenda but it is a topic that will remain current for the rest of Obama’s term. Divisive on its nature, this issue is one of those haunting the president’s political timing leading to his reelection crusade.
In such tenure, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with President Barack Obama to discuss immigration and to ask for a deferral of deportations on students and the children of undocumented parents. Hispanic lawmakers said Tuesday that the president affirmed the immigration system’s fix will need to be "legislative,” as they have been pressing for an administrative alternative allowed under the powers of his office.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) one of the most active voices in the pro-immigration reform debate was present at the meeting in the White House.
“How is the president going to proceed? You guys are going to have to ask him,” the congressman told reporters at the end of the reunion.
This has been the third meeting that the president has recently held on the topic, with a variety of leaders and public figures. Two weeks ago, Obama met with a group of immigration advocates seeking a reform plan that would strengthen enforcement while providing a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants who are eligible. And last week, the president received Latino celebrities at the White House, where he told them that they are the ones who have the power to raise the discussion level on immigration.
Obama once again reiterated that he cannot deliver on his promise of refurbishing the U.S. immigration system without the support of Republicans in Congress, but immigration advocates argue that as the possibilities of a reform are slim, the president should at least resource to the powers of his office to stop the deportation of undocumented aliens with no criminal record, including undocumented children that were brought to the U.S. by their parents.
A CHC statement previous to today’s reunion said that Obama can take “administrative action which can immediately address the most grievous shortcomings of our broken immigration system," including the deferral of deportations on humanitarian grounds. However, for opponents of any form of legalization, any indulgency related to the undocumented and their communities, equals ‘amnesty’.
But the topic is heating up as immigrant rights organizations and advocates realize that there is no possibility a bill could be introduced in 2011, and most likely, neither on 2012.
To add pressure on the president, legislators and all parties involved, May Day in Los Angeles drew once again thousands of students, workers, activists and undocumented aliens who marched through the streets of downtown, demanding labor rights and comprehensive immigration reform. Those participants who can vote conditioned Obama’s reelection on it.
"Legalization or no re-election!" and "Full rights for immigrants!" chanted the marchers on Sunday, also demanding more jobs, better wages and working conditions. Others held signs reading “Legalize LA” and “Equality for all.”
The crowd was estimated in about 10,000 protesters by organizers; while the Los Angeles Police Department set the number at 3,500.
A tradition for many years, May 1 had been a date for pro-labor demonstrations, but immigration advocates in the United States made it theirs, in 2006, when they poured to the streets gaining notoriety and making out of the date, an immigration rights movement.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, also made a stop in Los Angeles on Saturday, as part of his national campaign "Change Takes Courage", calling on president Obama to take urgent action to fix the U.S. immigration system.
“I won’t be an accomplice of any reunion at the White House, where the only objective is the reelection of a politician seeking the presidency of the United States. If they want me to go to the White House, they can invite me to talk, so they can respond to the petitions of the families that have made a call for justice, right here, at this church in Los Angeles,” Gutierrez said, before a crowd at St. Agatha's Church, located at a highly Hispanic populated Angelino neighborhood.
“’When communities are terrorized by ICE’s immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all these is happening, the system isn’t working, and we need to change it.’ These are not my words –added Gutierrez-, these are the words of then U.S. presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama; and we are here today at this church, to tell him [that] the situation hasn’t changed, and it’s time to take change and have courage.”
Gutierrez also said that “the fact of the matter” is that Obama was elected to be “our champion in the United States presidency” and that “the time to stand up” and stop deportations against the immigrant communities has come. He added that Obama is a graduate of the best law school of the world, and in accordance, he must put in practice the knowledge gained at Harvard and apply the “administrative alternatives” he has access to, in order to ease the pain within the immigrants and their families.
Meanwhile, California lawmakers are considering allowing some localities to opt out of ICE’s “Secure Communities”, within other reasons, arguing that the program is forcing local law agencies to conduct civil immigration enforcement.
The federal program which aims to achieve nationwide coverage in 2013, has been harshly criticized by local law enforcement as well, as there is a fear it will make undocumented immigrants afraid to report crime and erode trust in their officers. Secure Communities shares the FBI’s criminal database and the Department of Homeland Security’s records, automatically verifying the immigration status of anyone who is arrested.
Last week, the California Assembly’s public safety committee voted to advance AB 1081, the bill that would give the choice to the states’ counties to participate in the program, or to simply opt out.
According to federal government statistics, nearly 30 percent of the 102,000 immigrants deported under Secure Communities since it started in 2008, didn’t have a criminal conviction.
A report by the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA,) indicates that nearly 1 million immigrants have been deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the first two years of the Obama administration. CHIRLA also claims those numbers are continuously increasing.
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