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Will there be another broken promise?

Immigration reform put on the back burner once again

Will there be immigration reform before the end of the year?
It was not long ago that Latinos voted overwhelmingly for President Barack Obama in hopes of attaining a greater presence in the minds and votes of legislators.

But as the health care debate heats up, it seems unreasonable for the administration to make a solid move on immigration policy.

The risk alienating some voters, as always, rears its ugly head in the campaign offices of the many politicians up for reelection in 2010.

Latinos are not the only ones affected – every immigrant who continues to be victimized by a poorly structured immigration system is also being punished.

Nonetheless, the largest group affected, without a doubt, is that of immigrants from Latin American.

The chants of “¡Si se puede!” have died down as fall approaches with no viable plan yet offered by the White House.

There have been meetings where “leaders” of the community meet to offer their ideas on how immigration policy should be structured, but they walk away with empty promises once again.

During an interview with Univision in May 2008, Obama continuously voiced his promise that made it sound like there would be immigration reform within the first year of his presidency if he was elected.
He was elected with well over 50 percent of the Latino vote and his first year ends on January 20, 2010.

It is understandable that he would want to deal with other important domestic issues of concern, but this is beginning to sound like the song never ends.

Each presidential candidate attends Latino-based events and gets interviewed by Univision and as soon as the Oval Office opens, all promises appear to be negotiable.

The divisive wall continues to get built, raids rip families apart and Latin American policy has been overlooked once again.

The reality is that as the days pass by and with the 2010 reelections nearing, it will become increasingly unrealistic for any politician to risk reelection to such a polarizing topic.

Let’s face it: The administration chose its battle for the year and immigration reform was not it.

It seems that the terminology the administration uses when referring to immigrants has slowly turned from friendly to more derogatory.

Does this mean that immigration policy reform will not happen? Maybe not.
But it is still reasonable to assume that the administration has chosen to time its legislation battles and immigration may just be waiting a few months before making its appearance.

Political strategists are as leery of immigration reform as they are of scandals. The many variables associated with immigration can become extremely problematic for those running reelection campaigns, especially with the xenophobia present among some American communities.
The bottom line is that the system is broken and it needs to be overhauled.

We cannot continue to patiently wait. Immigrants should not be relegated to the waiting list every time.

It is a necessary systematic change.

We must address the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ bureaucratic and flawed processes, unreasonable fees, inadequate penalties and unfair practices of naturalization categorized by country of descent as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s unfair treatment of undocumented immigrants.

This year has been a continuation of the previous years: fancy meetings at the White House, empty promises and sporadic meetings with Latin American leadership that do nothing to better the situation.

The immigration question is one that has to be tackled from several angles. Latin American policy is as much a variable when addressing immigration as the question of how to deal with immigrants in the U.S.
If the region continues to decline economically, it is only reasonable to assume that citizens of those countries will seek refuge elsewhere.
Political tensions accompanied by rising violence are also responsible for migration patterns.

The meetings held with Brazilian President Luiz da Silva, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and other leaders did nothing to address key issues of economic mandates by the IMF or the World Bank that economically oppress many of these countries.

The most activity from American legislators has been that which is happening on the floor of the Mexican legislature: discussing the possible privatization of the oil industry.

It is nice to have a more welcoming administration that shows a greater willingness to act, but all talk and no action will not make a difference.
Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos believes that immigrants will have to wait their turn once again and it would do no good to hastily put together immigration legislation only to have xenophobic individuals added to the chaos already sustained by heated health care rallies.

The hope is that the administration will kick into gear and begin immigration reform legislation in the coming months in order to see a tangible legislation proposal early next year.

A promise was made that may have to be broken, but Obama still remains the hope for many who chanted with him at his rallies.

Latino voters did their part. Now the White House must hold up their end of the deal.

Immigration reform is needed now.

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