Immigration and Orphaned Children

Having pledged to do everything possible to push through far-reaching reforms of the immigration system, President Obama came under serious criticism for his administration’s immigration policy in a New York Times editorial in early April 2014. Millions of people look on with frustration as the reform fails to materialize because a handful of Republican lawmakers refuse to discuss it, let alone ratify it. However, according to the editorial, Obama’s administration has deported almost 2 million people over the last five years in a bid to convince Republicans of the urgent need for reform by demonstrating governmental compliance with current immigration legislation.

Those who have waited for years for Obama to fulfill his promise are frustrated, not only by the impossiblity of the president keeping to his word, but also by the oppressive nature of his deportation policy. The editorial draws attention to the number of deportations in recent years, and certainly it is hard to understand how an administration that has benefited from the votes of families, friends and acquaintances of illegal immigrants, the vast majority of whom supported the election and re-election of President Obama and a good number of Democratic lawmakers, could implement such a policy.

The harsh conduct of immigration authorities will take its toll on the upcoming elections, when every seat in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the Senate will be up for re-election. Opinion polls reflect the possible abstention of a section of the Hispanic vote, who [Hispanics] look at the voracious appetite of the deporters with horror and resentment. Hundreds of families have seen one or more of their members deported without the slightest exercise of human consideration. As a result of this posture, more than 5,000 children have been orphaned, their parents taken from their homes when they needed them most. Until now consistent in their support of the president and his party, Hispanic voters are unlikely to repeat their vote for Obama in the upcoming elections as a result.

It may not be too late for the administration to rethink its strategy, although its motives may be political rather than humanitarian.