Obama: The Tug of War over Immigration in the United States

For many years immigration reform was part of a strategy to win the presidency of the United States, and it has been just that and nothing more. Obviously, few governments have taken the risk or have had the courage to confront a problem that polarizes opinions in a time when winning votes is the priority. Ronald Reagan, both Bushes, George H.W. Bush (Father) and George W. Bush (Son), Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama have confronted the immigration problem from different angles — and each in their own way has made promises to reform immigration laws.

Names such as “guest workers,” “dreamers,” “undocumented workers,” “wetbacks” and “sanctuary cities,” among others, were the ingredients for the congressional debates for a proposal to regulate the 11 million people who live in the shadows in the United States territory. On November 6, 2012, in a little less than a year, the day of the next presidential elections, the heat will be on Obama, who has been criticized for lacking the character to initiate reform on this issue.

On the same day that the president appeared on a Spanish television channel and stated that his government’s priority was not to deport the “Dreamers,” or young undocumented students brought by their families to the United States when they were children, Prerna Lal was ordered to appear in Immigration Court. This did not agree with the reality of what Obama had said in his interview with Univision: “We are not going to prosecute these students. This statement is completely false.” Such lucky youth!

La Opinión de California, a daily newspaper, commented that although Obama maintains that he supports the DREAM Act, he also established an executive order that states that the deportation and other immigration laws passed by Congress may not be ignored. Experts and activists state that under certain specific cases and circumstances, the president can use his power to grant administrative relief. Regretfully, however, he is not doing this.

Recently the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, maintained that the Obama administration was using its power to delay deportations much less than President George W. Bush did.

According to press reports, Napolitano broke two records: More immigrants were deported than in the Bush administration and less relief was provided to them.

In spite of benefiting only a small part of young immigrants that work hard, aspire to go to university or serve in the United States Army, The DREAM Act was blocked by the Republicans in Congress.

Despite promises in his interview on Univision, in which he stated “it’s the right thing and I will continue working until it is passed,” many think that Obama should put more “heart and determination” into this issue.

For the hopeful undocumented students like Prerna Lal whose mother works two jobs to pay for her education, and who was brought to the United States as a child by her grandmother who had citizenship and her mother who was a permanent resident, has currently been ordered, because of her immigration status, to present herself in immigration court. At a press conference, Lal stated “I believe that this order to appear in deportation court shows the hypocrisy of this government. In private, Obama and Napolitano tell us that if we make enough noise they will not deport the ‘Dreamers,’ but instead they are sending them Notices to Appear (NTAs) in immigration court like the one that I received.”

This young woman is a 26-year-old law student at Georgetown University in Washington and cofounder of the website Dreamactivist.org. Originally from the Fiji Islands, 12 years ago she came to this country with a visa, together with her father. Her grandmother, who is over 80 years old and is a citizen, asked for a relative visa for Prerna and her parents, but it took so long to be processed that Prerna turned 21 and no longer could qualify for a minor visa.

Due to the fact that the government no longer supports giving visas to older youth, these cases have become politically complicated and these immigrants are being accused of “trying to get amnesty through the back door.” Lal and those who support her, hope that the dream will become a reality.

Campaigning to win visibility in order to convince the Obama administration to confer one of the few “deferred action visas” that have permitted many “Dreamers” to stay in the country is one of the few alternatives left. Recently, 21 Democratic senators and one Independent sent Obama a letter asking him to consider using this tool to permit these young students to stay in the country. “Offering deferred action in these cases in a responsible use of resources,” stated the senators in their letter that asked the president to consider using strict but generous criteria to grant the stay for these young people that have qualified for the DREAM Act. While these events take place every day in the United States, many who voted for Obama in 2008 ask him to have more “heart” while resolving the tug-of-war present in the issue of immigration.