Obama Snaffles the Hispanic Vote

Without having to attend a big banquet or host another White House summit to deliver pandering rhetoric, President Barack Obama finally addressed the Hispanic community last week — with action instead of words.

When his administration announced that it would suspend deportation proceeding against illegal immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety, Obama finally demonstrated the kind of leadership many Americans expected from the "Si Se Puede/Yes, We Can" president.

On numerous occasions during the past few months, Obama went out of his way to explain to immigrant rights advocates that they were asking him to do the impossible. He told them that, without action from Congress, there was no way he could make administrative changes that could ease the government's persecution of thousands of non-criminal illegal immigrants who were getting deported every year. His administration was breaking deportation records, but there was nothing he could do about it, or so he claimed.

Obama had become the "No Se Puede" president.

And then last week, voila, the impossible became the Obama administration's new deportation policy — one that came at least two years late, one that is obviously politically motivated, but one that will clearly put Obama back in contention for overwhelming support from Hispanic voters.

Under the new directive, the government will conduct a case-by-case review of some 300,000 undocumented immigrants who are currently in deportation proceedings. Officials will use "prosecutorial discretion" to separate those with criminal convictions from those who, for example, were detained for minor traffic violations.

It doesn't eliminate the need for comprehensive immigration reform, it doesn't give anyone permanent legal status, but it should provide some relief for undocumented immigrants who came here as children and are still struggling to pursue a college education or even to serve in the military. It should give peace of mind to some members of our military who are fighting our wars while worrying about having their spouses deported.

It sounds like a logical, just and humane thing to do, right?

The real criminals still will be deported, and perhaps much more efficiently, because they will be at the top of a list that will not be clogged by so many non-criminal, low-priority cases. Although the Department of Homeland Security insists that its priority has been the capture and deportation of criminals, of the 400,000 immigrants deported last year, less than half of them had criminal records.

The new policy is likely to diminish collateral damage. From now on, those whose only violation was either entering the country illegally, or staying here when their visas expired, will have their deportations suspended and will be issued work permits.

Although this only applies to undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings, millions of others still living in the shadows also stand to gain from the new policy — the government will be less likely to start deportation proceedings against immigrants who have no criminal records and pose no threat to national security.

Of course, anti-immigrant zealots already are accusing Obama of granting "backdoor amnesty," usurping the authority of Congress and "putting illegal aliens ahead of unemployed Americans."

The president will take a lot of heat for this new policy, but it will come from people who were not likely to vote for him anyway.

Let's face it: Given the fact that the GOP nominee is likely to emerge as xenophobia peddler, molded by right-wing demands during the primaries, Obama doesn't have to do much to win the overwhelming majority of the votes that will be cast by Latinos in 2012.

His problem is with the number of Latinos who may chose to stay home on Election Day, especially those who no longer believe that Obama can effect the changes he promised in 2008. A low Latino voter turnout in 2012 could be lethal for Obama.

Yet this gutsy move by the president could be enough to tip the voter scales for him in the key swing states, especially since his Republican opponent is likely to be one of those zealots who oppose the new policy.

To demonize Obama among Republican extremists, watch for GOP presidential candidates to continue to scapegoat undocumented immigrants, to falsely portray them as welfare leaches, to ignore their hard work, their American dreams and their enormous contributions to our economy.

And watch how they hand Obama the Latino vote on a silver platter!

Obama didn't deliver the comprehensive immigration reform he promised — mostly because of Republican opposition — but now we can see that he is trying to help. At least now there is action to back his pro-immigrant rhetoric.

Besides, now Latinos have a new and very compelling reason for voting for Obama: If the president is not re-elected, how long could we expect his new deportation policy to survive under a Republican administration?

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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