Thread: Latinos who backed Obama are frustrated by lack of immigrati

Latinos who backed Obama are frustrated by lack of immigration overhaul

By Rob Hotakainen
rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010

WASHINGTON – As one of the first Latinos in the nation to endorse Barack Obama, Democratic state Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles campaigned hard for the president, but he's very disappointed now.

The reason: Obama failed to act on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws in his first year in office, as he promised to do when he ran for president.

"I think he's now in danger of breaking the spirit of solidarity and hope," Cedillo said. "More than a broken promise, it's the danger of breaking people's sense of any hope in the Latino community."

Immigration has taken a back seat to a host of many other important tough issues for Obama, including two wars, a struggling economy and a year-long effort to get Congress to pass a any kind of health care overhaul.

The president's defenders say it now would be politically impossible to add the volatile issue of immigration to the mix right now.

Cedillo doesn't buy that argument. He said the president knew he would be dealing with other big issues when he made promises to the Latino community during the campaign.

"Those were the conditions that he was campaigning under," Cedillo said. "It's not like those were surprises. I was so proud of him, at how firm and clear he was in those presidential debates. He really provided leadership."

While the president carried the Latino vote by large margins in 2008, many Republicans are out to capitalize on Latino dissatisfaction with Obama and Washington's Democratic leaders – just in time for the 2010 elections.

Republican candidates will gain ground with Latinos once they realize "that what the Democrats have offered is just a bunch of empty promises," said Hector Barajas, a communications consultant for the state Senate Republican Caucus.

He noted the president spent only about 10 seconds on immigration at the very end of his State of the Union speech last month.

Barajas said the issue has been particularly hot on Spanish talk radio ever since.

"It's what didn't happen," he said. "I mean, he spent more time talking about gays in the military than he did about providing some immigration reform plan."

Barajas said Latinos recognize that it has been a tough year for Obama and that an immigration plan may not be fully implemented immediately, but he said there's not even a plan for moving forward, let alone introducing any kind of legislation.

"I think the Democratic Party needs to wake up and realize that you can only fool the Latino community once and for so long," Barajas said. "There's a great sense of frustration, there's a great sense of anger, and there's a very big letdown" that will drive more Latinos to the Republican Party, he said.

Democrats, particularly the president, face "a scary situation," said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute, a nonprofit public policy center at California State University, Los Angeles.

"It's really a colossal hassle for the administration, that there is so much impatience from so many groups, including Latinos that are hell-bent on having an immigration reform package in 2010, an election year," he said. "It's difficult in any season in any year, but this is a very precarious year for Obama."

Regalado said he doesn't believe Democrats will switch to the Republican Party in big numbers. Rather, "what it does threaten is that Latinos stay home," he said.

He said Republicans are exploiting the issue "with good reason" because it's a no-win situation for Democrats: They lose votes from Latinos if they don't come up with a comprehensive solution to immigration, or they lose votes from more conservative members of their base if they do.

Obama was hugely popular among Latinos, receiving 75 percent of the more than 10 million votes they cast in the 2008 presidential election.

The White House said Friday that it remains committed to passing a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws.

White House spokesman Adam Abrams said the president wants to sign a bill that strengthens border enforcement and cracks down on employers "who exploit undocumented workers to undercut American workers." And he said the president wants to resolve the status of approximately 10.8 million people who are here illegally, "that they should have to register, pay a penalty for breaking the law and meet other obligations of legal immigrants such as paying taxes, or immediately leave the country."

"The president told members of both parties that if they can fashion a plan to deal with these problems, he is eager to work with them to get it done," Abrams said.

Cedillo, who campaigned for Obama in California, Texas and Nevada and debated on his behalf on Spanish-language radio, said the president and Democratic leaders need to show Latinos they're committed to them "not only during the campaign, but after the election."

Last week, a report by America's Voice, a group that backs new comprehensive immigration policies, said immigration could be the deciding factor in as many as 40 congressional races in November.

"I would be really concerned if I was the White House, if I was a member of Congress," Cedillo said.

Republicans are most optimistic about their chances in California's Central Valley, where they've targeted four legislative seats.

Tim Clark, who's working with state Senate Republicans on those races, said immigration issues in California are taking a back seat to the economy, which has been hurting Latinos more than the general population.

In the Central Valley, he said, Latinos and others are blaming Democratic leaders for siding with environmentalists over jobs in the state's long-running fights over water.

Clark said the Central Valley will be "ground zero" in this fall's election and that Republicans are busy registering voters.

"We're seeing a very positive reception from a number of different voter demographics, including the Latino population," he said.

Cedillo said he welcomes any wooing of Latinos from Republicans.

He said many Latinos "sit really poised" to be Republicans since many of them are socially moderate, conservative, religious, hardworking and opponents of big government. But he said they've been driven away by the party's hard-line stance against immigration.

"I would love for them to stop changing Latinos from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party," he said. "I'd love for the day to come that this shrill anti-immigration hysteria that emerges from so many of their members and their leaders would stop."

Democratic state Sen. Gilbert Cedillo explains his disappointment with President Barack Obama and the immigration issue.

"I think he's in danger of breaking the spirit of solidarity and hope. More than a broken promise, it's the danger of breaking people's sense of hope in the Latino community."

STATE SEN. GILBERT CEDILLO, D-Los Angeles

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/ ... _commented

What an idiot! McCain was the one who co-sponsored the last sham-nasty and it was shot down. If "latinos" wanted reform, they would have voted for McCain instead of Obama. Passing CIR is definitely not a top issue among legal immigrants and US voters, enforcement is a top priority.

The US has welcomed immigrants from all over the world and there are steps/rules to follow to gain entry. Refusing to go through these steps/rules and disrespectfully thumbing their noses at the laws to follow earn illegal aliens no special treatment, other than to be booted out, not rewarded. NO CIR, enforcement works, lets do it.

Let's not disappoint them folks. Let us all support a complete immigration overhaul which includes fining and returning all illegal aliens, controlling the border crossings, and a reduction in the number of work visas.

I am getting quite tired of all the labels being put on people these days as because of birth they belong to a group, with no thought or consideration given to the fact that people of all ilk can think for themselves. Yes they will look out for the best interest of themselves, but spokesmen cannot swipe an entire "group" to spout views that may be totally alien and against that individual's beliefs and experiences.
There need to be more voices to speak about the fallacy that is readily embraced by popular media.

Last week, a report by America's Voice, a group that backs new comprehensive immigration policies, said immigration could be the deciding factor in as many as 40 congressional races in November.

they at least got that right, and some of us are ready to fight.[/b]

Originally Posted by miguelina

What an idiot! McCain was the one who co-sponsored the last sham-nasty and it was shot down. If "latinos" wanted reform, they would have voted for McCain instead of Obama. Passing CIR is definitely not a top issue among legal immigrants and US voters, enforcement is a top priority.

The US has welcomed immigrants from all over the world and there are steps/rules to follow to gain entry. Refusing to go through these steps/rules and disrespectfully thumbing their noses at the laws to follow earn illegal aliens no special treatment, other than to be booted out, not rewarded. NO CIR, enforcement works, lets do it.

Yeah, it was Reagan back in 86 who passed amensty. It was Bush in 2006-2008 who was trying to ram amnesty down the throats of Americans. And in 2009, it was Juan McCain who was promising illegal invaders everything under the sun. He even campaigned in mexico for goodness sakes!

Yet latinos refuse to acknowledge this. I have never understood this....

Originally Posted by artclam

Let's not disappoint them folks. Let us all support a complete immigration overhaul which includes fining and returning all illegal aliens, controlling the border crossings, and a reduction in the number of work visas.

Absolutely! Lets GO AMERICA!! All for one and one for all! 2010 is our year to end this nonsense and madness of illegal immigration and excess legal immigration once and for all.

Gil Cedillo is dillusional. Most Latinos who came here legally can't stand the illegals. What Cedillo is missing is the ILLEGAL non voting Latino community wants reform. Just so happens that his district just north of downtown LA is 75 percent illegals and 50 percent of them are gang bangers.

"I would be really concerned if I was the White House, if I was a member of Congress," Cedillo said.

He's right, they should be concerned. American citizen voters are fed up with the pandering to illegals that has taken place and are demanding enforcement of our immigration laws. Woe be to those who vote for amnesty.