US: Obama Plays Politics with Immigration

US: Obama Plays Politics with Immigration – by Rosario Marin

I have never been a fan of Obama. I have criticized his manipulative and divisive political decisions, especially when it comes to the Latino community.  Let’s start:
First, when he was a senator he opposed immigration reform that senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain had worked on.
Second, he promised that if elected, he would implement immigration reform in his first 100 days in office, he never did.

Third, he has deported more immigrants than any other recent president, and separated hundreds of thousands of families while claiming  they had criminal records, when in fact the vast majority did not.
And now that Senator Marco Rubio has proposed an alternative to the Dream Act, Obama unilaterally dictates his own version of the Dream Act by issuing an executive order.
My question, what compelled him to do so five months short of the November election?  If it was so important, why didn’t he issue this executive order in his first 100 days in office? Why is he so desperately trying to secure this voting bloc now?
I support immigration reform. I also support the plight of young people who, through no fault of their own, came to this country, and have made America their home.
But Obama’s latest political tactic is transparently political. His executive order is not a long term solution. Far from uniting our country in reaching a true consensus on the very important issue of immigration, it helps to further polarize us.
This president has a clear record of decisions and actions that polarize our country: remember the haves vs the have nots, the 99% vs the 1%.
In trying to keep his job he has come down to use for his political future the young people he has let down time and time again. Far from genuinely trying to pass a genuine dream act for these young people, his actions ensure that America will be even more divided, making true immigration reform even less likely.
America is not a monarchy, the president is not a king.  We did not elect a dictator.  In California, Governor Davis played a similar hand regarding drivers’ licenses for people who were here undocumented. He desperately used the Hispanic community for his political survival.  He got recalled and the driver licenses got overturned.  In the end his political gimmicks served to the detriment of the Hispanic community.  It sickens me that those gimmicks could potentially be replayed at the national level and in the end the dreams of immigration reform will become a true nightmare.
* Rosario Marin served as the 41st US Treasurer under President George W. Bush.  She is the author of “Leading Between Two Worlds Lessons from the first Mexican-born Treasurer of the United States.