Immigration Korner
By Felicia Persaud
Source: CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK:
On Thursday, director of U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement, John Morton, made it a point of hosting a press conference in Arizona to announce proudly that the federal government under president Obama has deported more illegal immigrants from the U.S. than ever before.
USICE deported a whopping 380,000 illegal immigrants from the U.S. last fiscal year, with only about a third of them being convicted criminals. So far this fiscal year, ICE removed 136,000 illegal immigrants who are convicted criminals, also a record, Morton said.
The optimum phrase – `a record,` meaning more than during the presidency of the Bush`s as well as Clinton and even going back further.
For me the question that immediately popped into my head after hearing this announcement was: `Is this really the change we voted for and hoped for?`
Now don`t get me wrong. I am all for jailing criminals and deporting those who commit serious crimes. But the reality is that many of those being deported under the Obama administration are hard working migrants rounded up at work sites through raids or those who overstayed their visas.
So is this really change we can believe in? The Hispanic media is right to begin to turn a critical voice towards President Obama. After all, this is a man who promised us immigration reform in the first year of his office and most of all, reform that is comprehensive.
Yet to date, all we have heard is a lot of promises while ICE continues to carry out the government`s agenda of rounding up and deporting many. If one needed any additional evidence that the plan is more for enforcement than any other agenda, note the $600 million bill by the President that will put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.
The measure, which Obama planned to sign into law last Friday, would fund the hiring of 1,000 new border patrol agents to be deployed at critical areas along the border, 250 more immigration and customs enforcement agents, and 250 more customs and border protection officers.
The President can use his executive powers to bring some form of immigration relief to some segments of immigrants in desperate need of help. Yet he has refused to do this and instead continue paying paltry lip service to immigrants and immigrant voters.
Even ICE`s Morton was honest enough to point out that there needs to be uniform federal immigration reform to solve the immigration problem in the U.S.`You`ve got to have comprehensive reform that recognizes a need for strong border security, a need for strong interior enforcement, but also a means for families and workers to come here lawfully … And an ability for people who`ve been here for a very long time to get right with the law by paying a fine and learning English and paying their taxes, and getting to the back of the line,` Morton said.
So where is the congress and President Obama on this? – hiding behind more enforcement and of course the November election. This is not the change we voted for and believed in. It is time the immigrant media takes the President to task on his failed promises on immigration reform and ensure he gets the message loud and clear: we will not and cannot be taken for granted.
The sad situation is we cannot threaten to vote for the other side since that`s the worst anti-immigrant party one has ever seen. So we are caught between a rock and a hard place – a change platform that lied or a racist, anti-immigrant one?
The choice is tough. Dems. are far better than racist GOPers. However, we cannot be silent in this fight and must keep on demanding reform for our brothers and sisters who desperately need it. The message has to be clear: more enforcement is not reform, real comprehensive immigration reform must happen sooner rather than later.
