Obama Will Reward Hispanics

Officials are going to conduct a review of 300,000 cases of illegal immigrants who have been selected for deportation. Many people will evade expulsion.

It is estimated that there are 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. “People without papers” — as they call themselves — can be arrested at any time. Immigration agents arrest thousands of people in supermarkets, at subway stations, on buses and on trains every year.

So far, those who have completed all of their education in the U.S. and who know no other home have been deported just like the most dangerous criminals.

At present Barack Obama — who won the presidential election with strong support from the Hispanic community — is trying to make life easier for some immigrants. As United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has announced, her officials will examine 300,000 cases of immigrants who have been scheduled for deportation. Those with criminal records, according to the plan, will be expelled from the country.

However, harmless illegal residents will be given a chance to avoid deportation; moreover, they will get permission to apply for a job legally in the U.S. Among them there will be talented university and high school students who unconsciously embarked on their American Dream when, as small children, they were smuggled across the border by their parents. Also, it will be planned for those people wishing to join the U.S. Army — those who have not committed any crimes and have strong family ties with the United States — to be afforded this chance. Julio Calderon, a 21-year-old student from Florida who has been fighting his deportation order since he was 16, said, “It’s an important step for the human rights of undocumented immigrants.”

Napolitano claims that the new policy will strengthen U.S. security, as people will be focused on important issues, such as cases of dangerous immigrants. So far, up to 79 percent of those deported have not committed any crimes. Their immigration cases have just clogged the courts.

The Obama administration’s idea appeals to Democratic politicians. Senator Dick Durbin points out that instead of sending very talented students to other countries, which they cannot even remember, officials should do everything to keep them. “These students are the future doctors, lawyers, teachers,” he argues.

Even CNN has noted, however, that such fundamental changes in policy may shake up the immigration system. Conservative opponents of Obama have severely criticized the new policy of the White House, arguing that it is a blanket amnesty.

FAIR Special Projects Director Jack Martin said that President Obama is to be blamed for abuse of power, alleging that he acts in defiance of the will of public opinion and against the separation of powers. Martin claims that the new policy has the form of administrative amnesty; officials suggest that immigrants can continue to live and work in the U.S., and there is no need to be afraid of deportation. Martin has been striving for an immigration reform that will reduce the number of immigrants coming to the United States.