Edited by Derek Ha
In 2008, they voted for him in massive numbers. However, on account of the overly repressive character of his immigration policy, they will undoubtedly not do so again next year.
While they voted overwhelmingly in favor in 2008, the Latinos are, for the moment, the big losers of Barack Obama’s presidency. The Democratic candidate promised them the moon, the adoption of a comprehensive law regulating the some 11 million illegal immigrants — Hispanics for the largest part — present in the United States. All the while, he presented himself as firm on controlling the flow of immigrants in order to reassure the white electorate. This was a balance impossible to maintain with the hardening of the politcal climate, symbolized by the success of the tea party during the midterm elections of November 2010. Since this time, Obama the repressive has gained the upper hand over Obama the reformer. For example, during this speech in El Paso last month, he called attention to the fact that the border wth Mexico had never been more secure and that the number of deportations had never been so high.
Worse than Bush
In fact, his administration deports far more than the Bush administration: 400,000 deportations in 2010 and as many the year before, a record. No longer counted are raids carried out by the police on businesses employing illegal immigrants, such as those launched during the month of May against 14 franchises of a restaurant chain in Arizona and California. The only consolation is that illegal immigrants are no longer pursued criminally (in contrast to their employers) but simply deported. Obama has also backed away from a certain number of symbolic measures such as the Dream Act, devised to regulate the status of students and military personnel who arrived illegally to the United States at a young age. Regarding the promise of big reforms, this one is obliged to remain in the box until at least 2012 given the head-on opposition of the Republican Party, which controls the House of Representatives.
As a result, frustration mounts within the Latino community of 50 million people, whose vote will be crucial during the next presidential election. There is also a raising of voices within the Democratic camp to demand some sort of softening, such as on the arrest of illegal immigrants who have a child with American nationality (there are 4 million cases like this). Obama, however, continues to stall and to accuse the Republicans as being solely responsible for the deadlock. He pleads for “legislative action in Congress” because “he cannot unilaterally change the law.” Certainly, but did he not have two years of elbow room during the start of his term?
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