United States: Latinos Let Go of Obama

Published in Jeune Afrique
(France) on 27 June 2011
by Jean-Eric Boulin (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Dominique Lardner. Edited by .

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?


Les Latinos lâchent Obama

Ils avaient massivement voté pour lui en 2008, mais n’en feront sans doute pas autant l’an prochain. À cause du caractère très répressif de sa politique d’immigration.
Alors qu’ils l’avaient plébiscité en 2008, les Latinos sont, pour l’instant, les grands perdants de la présidence de Barack Obama. Le candidat démocrate leur avait promis la lune : l’adoption d’une grande loi régularisant les quelque 11 millions de clandestins – hispaniques, dans leur immense majorité – présents aux États-Unis. Tout en se montrant ferme sur le contrôle des flux migratoires pour rassurer l’électorat blanc. Un équilibre impossible à tenir avec le durcissement du climat politique, symbolisé par les succès du Tea Party lors des élections de la mi-mandat, en novembre 2010. Depuis, l’Obama répressif a pris le dessus sur l’Obama réformateur. Comme lors de ce discours à El Paso, le mois dernier, dans lequel il a rappelé que la frontière avec le Mexique n’avait jamais été aussi sûre et le nombre des expulsions, aussi élevé.
Pire que Bush
De fait, son administration expulse beaucoup plus que l’administration Bush : 400 000 expulsions en 2010, et autant l’année précédente. Un record. On ne compte plus les raids de la police dans les entreprises employant des clandestins, comme celui lancé en Arizona et en Californie, au mois de mai, dans quatorze établissements d’une chaîne de restauration. Seule consolation, les clandestins ne sont plus poursuivis pénalement – à la différence de leurs employeurs –, mais simplement expulsés.
Obama a aussi reculé sur un certain nombre de mesures symboliques, comme le Dream Act, censé régulariser la situation des étudiants et des militaires arrivés illégalement aux États-Unis très jeunes. Quant à la grande réforme promise, elle devrait rester dans les cartons au moins jusqu’en 2012 en raison de l’opposition frontale du Parti républicain, qui contrôle la Chambre des représentants.
Du coup, l’exaspération monte dans la communauté latino (50 millions de personnes), dont le vote lors de la prochaine présidentielle sera crucial. Et des voix s’élèvent dans le camp démocrate pour demander des assouplissements. Comme l’arrêt des expulsions des sans-papiers ayant un enfant de nationalité américaine (ils sont 4 millions dans ce cas). Pourtant, Obama continue de temporiser et accuse les républicains d’être seuls responsables du blocage. « Je ne peux pas court-circuiter le Congrès et changer la loi », plaide-t-il. Certes, mais n’a-t-il pas eu les coudées franches pendant deux ans, en début de mandat ?

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