Deportation of law-abiding immigrants may hurt Obama's re-election chances
Deportation of law-abiding immigrants may hurt Obama's re-election chances
Study shows president failing on promise to focus on deporting 'worst of the worst', disappointing potential Latino voters
Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 June 2012 14.19 EDT
Since 2009, more than 1 million immigrants were deported – a vast increase on levels under George Bush. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Obama administration has failed to deliver on its promise to lift the threat of deportation for law-abiding undocumented immigrants, according to an alliance of Hispanic and civil rights leaders who warn that disappointment among Latino voters could damage the president's chances of being re-elected.
A new report from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (Firm) criticises the department of homeland security for failing to implement its own policy that switched the target of deportations onto serious criminal offenders, or the "worst of the worst".
Firm concludes that the lack of implementation could "undermine the credibility of President Obama's standing with Latino and immigrant communities nationwide".
The report shows that in the three years from 2009, more than 1 million immigrants were deported – a vast increase on levels under George Bush. In the first six months of 2011, the ranks of the deported included 46,000 mothers and fathers of children with full citizenship status, underlining the shattering of families.
The report cites a recent analysis by Syracuse University that the policy of deporting primarily those with a criminal record had in practice been turned on its head.
The study, based on court records, found that the number of deportations ordered because of criminal activity had in fact decreased in the past 12 months and that the "agency continues to be headed in the opposite direction from its stated goal".
"To a large extent this policy hasn't made things better, and in some cases it has made them worse," said Frank Sharry, head of the immigration reform campaign America's Voice.
The groundswell of discontent that is emerging over the failure to carry out the new policy could have important political ramifications in the November presidential election.
Latino populations have been growing rapidly in many of the key battleground states that are likely to be in play this year, and Hispanic voters have tended historically to lean towards the Democrats.
But young Latino US citizens tend to exercise their right to vote at lower rates than other ethnic groups, creating a demographic deficit that could prove electorally crucial. There is evidence that the Obama re-election campaign is struggling to mobilise Hispanic supporters in 2012 in an attempt to close the deficit.
Part of the difficulty may have something to do with the discontent that has been generated over the past year over the mounting perception that Obama has failed to live up to his promises.
"On the ground we are finding that people are fighting for the survival of their families, and that makes them difficult to focus on voting," said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
Sharry agreed that there was a significant "enthusiasm gap" among Latino voters this year, that was partly related to the poor economy and partly because of immigration enforcement. "We are experiencing a feeling of deep disappointment. The Latino community is desperate for an administration and a president that will fight for them."
The decision to revise the deportation guidelines was set out in two memos on 17 June 2011 from the homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano.
Under the new directive, federal immigration officers were instructed to focus on undocumented immigrants with criminal records or those who posed a threat to national security.
Law-abiding people, particularly undocumented parents of children who are US citizens as well as young immigrants who are diligently working towards a college education, would no longer be a priority for deportation.
A comprehensive review was ordered into pending deportation cases. Yet, the report finds, in only a paltry 1.5% of the 300,000 reviews completed – fewer than 5,000 – was the threat of deportation lifted.
The rate of relief – that is immigrants who win their appeal against deportation – has dramatically fallen, from about 28% before the new directive came in to just 5% today.
The report cites the case of Marvin Corado from Florida, who came to the US from Guatemala in 2000 when he was a teenager. He had a daughter, Madelyn, five years ago, and because she was US born she was automatically granted citizenship.
An active member of his local church who participated in community activities, Corado was precisely the kind of Hispanic immigrant who could have expected more lenient treatment under the new deportation policy.
Yet in October 2011 he was stopped by police and detained because he had no driver's licence – undocumented immigrants are not allowed to apply for licences in Florida.
Corado has been in detention for the past seven months and there is no sign of any let-up in attempts to deport him back to Guatemala.
"The implementation of this policy has been dismal," said Clarissa Martinez de Castro of the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic civil rights group in America.
She added: "Latinos care deeply about it. This is personal. It affects our families, friends and co-workers."
Deportation of law-abiding immigrants may hurt Obama's re-election chances | World news | guardian.co.uk
