As midterm elections loom, increasing pressure for immigration change is being brought on the U.S. Congress and the President. This heat is being exerted by Democrats in heavily Hispanic states, and immigrants without proper documentation. Some in Congress may hope they don’t have to confront the issue. But a growing tide of fear of deportation, among families that would certainly be broken up by action on the part of government, threatens the Democrats hold on the Hispanic vote.
Many wish that President Obama will use his executive authority to curtail what could be massive deportations among the estimated two million Hispanics that find themselves in the country without the proper documents. The hostility demonstrated by the Republicans in the House toward a bipartisan resolution of the non functioning U.S. immigration policies, may force the President to take some action.
The President indicated on March 14 that he was committed to finding a way to prevent many families, that may have one spouse facing immigration issues, from being torn apart by possible deportation.
Pressure from immigration reform advocates may have helped turn the President’s policy intentions as was indicated by Lorella Praeli, the leader of United We Dream, a youth organization, who said in a meeting with the President “We agree with the President that the only permanent solution is legislation. We disagree that he cannot act today to halt deportations and be bold on the administrative front. We don’t need a review at this time. We need him to act.”
Republican anti immigrant sentiments don’t appear to have softened as demonstrated by what Rep. Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina said on the House floor. “What are we to do when a president, regardless of motivation, nullifies our vote by failing to faithfully execute the law? Why pursue immigration reform if presidents can turn off the very provisions that we pass?”
Republicans have made it clear that they would oppose the President in every way possible if he were to take action to give a reprieve to those facing potential deportation.
The President is not without influential allies on the matter of reform of the country’s broken immigration policies with Mark Zuckerberg co-founder of the group FWD.us. This activist organization is a pro-immigration advocacy group that released an ad attacking the Republicans on immigration reform.
The Facebook founder indicated his commitment to change in a statement he made in San Francisco saying:
“This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country – and for us to do what’s right.”
This critical one minute ad admonishes House Republicans for placing roadblocks in the way of the passage of a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress.
The intention of the Zuckerberg group is to spend a half a million dollars on this new ad they called “Do Nothing.”
Edited/Published by: SB
