Obama boasts of consulting immigration radical
Union boss admitted amnesty meant to ensure 'progressive rule'
Posted: March 26, 2011
8:05 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WorldNetDaily



President Obama once boasted of consulting a radical on immigration issues who later admitted that granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens would expand the "progressive" electorate and help ensure a "progressive" governing coalition for the long term.

A widely circulated video clip of Obama making a campaign stop at an event for the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, shows the then-candidate telling the nation's second-largest union, "Your agenda has been my agenda in the Senate."

While the video received play during the 2008 presidential election campaign, there is one section that may warrant renewed scrutiny in light of a separate, second video that recently surfaced involving the individual being referenced by Obama.

Obama boasts to the SEIU about how he consulted the group's officials while he was in the Senate.

"Before immigration debates took place in Washington, I talked with Eliseo Media and SEIU members," Obama said.

Medina is SEIU's international executive vice-president.



In February 2010, WND posted video of Medina stating that a bill to document an estimated 12 million illegal aliens could help ensure "progressive" rule.

"We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters," stated Medina.

Medina was speaking at a June 2009 Washington conference for the liberal America's Future Now!

Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants "voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up."

"Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting? We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just for an election cycle."

Obama, meanwhile, told the SEIU at the 2008 campaign stop, "I'm proud of what we've done. I'm just not satisfied, because I know how much more we can accomplish as partners in an Obama administration."

"Just imagine what we could do together," stated Obama. "Imagine having a president whose lifework is your work."

The SEIU is closely linked to the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. Former SEIU President Andrew Stern was the most frequently logged White House visitor during Obama's first year in office.

Medina and the SEIU are top supporters of Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez's Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Bill, which seeks to document up to 12 million illegal immigrants inside the U.S.

Just yesterday, Obama said comprehensive immigration reform, including addressing the millions of undocumented workers in the U.S., is the right thing to do. He said he will continue to push for it but acknowledged that the politics of the issue are not easy.

During the most recent presidential campaign, Medina and Gutierrez served on Obama's National Latino Advisory Council. Also on the council was Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the co-sponsor of Gutierrez's immigration reform bill.

Medina was a chief lobbyist credited with a change in the longstanding policy of the AFL-CIO, the largest union federation in the U.S. The union reversed its stance against illegal immigration in February 2000, instead calling for new amnesty for millions of illegals.

The New Zeal blog documents how Medina was honored in 2004 by Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America for his "vital role in the AFL-CIO's reassessment of its immigration policy." That same year, Medina became a DSA honorary chairman.

The DSA also supported Gutierrez's 1998 bid for Congress. In the mid-1990s, Gutierrez served on the board of Illinois Public Action alongside a number of DSA members, including Obama health-care advisor Quentin Young.



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