Obama Doesn’t Speak Spanish

One of the frustrations of the Latino communities in the United States with President Barack Obama has been his refusal to promote migration reform. After obtaining 68 percent of the votes from this ethnic minority in the 2008 elections, the president dismissed the push for the legalization of 11 million undocumented immigrants and made it the last of his priorities, after health care, the financial sector, the stimulus package and energy.

After a year and a half, 46.8 million Latinos living in the northern country had to wait until last Thursday for Obama to give the first talk on his administration’s immigration policies. The moment is propitious: A few months ago, the border state Arizona passed a local norm that pursues foreigners without papers, principally Mexicans, and now twenty other states are considering the issuance of similar legislation. In the tradition of the current occupant of the White House, the allocution was given with high doses of praise for the “nation of immigrants” and unequivocal support of a law that standardizes the situations of illegal immigrants. However, he abstained from outlining a clear route sheet for the migration initiative to pass through Congress in a mid-term election year. In the words of the executives of La Raza, one of the most influential organizations that works for the rights of immigrants, “a speech alone is not sufficient.”

Washington’s intention to revive the topic of reform of immigration laws seems to respond more to an electoral interest than a tangible commitment to the political public. In November, Americans will renovate the totality of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and thirty-six state governments. The Latino community — 15 percent of the total population — is the minority with prospects for more dynamic growth, given its geographic concentration in states such as Colorado, California and Nevada. It therefore constitutes a powerful block of voters that the Democrats, currently in power, do not want to lose. Some studies calculate that in forty electoral districts, Latino suffrage can make the difference [in the election’s outcome].

Today, Obama and his followers are in the White House and in control of the two legislative chambers. Nevertheless, political tradition indicates that in mid-term elections, the majority party receives a beating. Proving to be in favor of the migration law and blaming failure on the opposition, the president is looking to hold on to Latinos who support Democrats in spite of the disenchantment.

But beyond the political calculations, illegal immigration in the United States continues to be a matter that needs to be resolved and touches millions of people from all parts of the world. For example, according to 2008 census data, of the 882,000 Colombian residents [in the United States], two-thirds are recognized as citizens, one-third has achieved a university degree and one-fourth do not have health insurance. In fact, the Colombian community, the seventh largest in size among Latin Americans, is the most educated, and the second [Latin American community] in terms of their annual income per capita. These statistics confirm that their compatriots in New York or Florida would benefit greatly from the normalization of their legal status.

It would be hasty to affirm that last week’s speech is going to open the path for reform of the migration system. In the electoral atmosphere, the surest thing is that the initiative will not start the legislative transit until early next year. Meanwhile, Obama is going to have to face two growing problems: the illusion of millions of undocumented immigrants [waiting] to become legal and the fervor of the other millions of Latino voters on the edge of deception.