Editorial:
President Obama, once again, turned his back on the Hispanic community when he decided to do nothing about immigration reform!
The latest promise the President broke with our community was his stated intention to take executive action on immigration reform. Last week, the President announced that he would be delaying that action until after the November elections.
The outcry from the Hispanic and immigrant rights community due to this delay was immediate, understandable and justified. The general feeling was one of despair and hopelessness.
For years now, the Hispanic/immigrant rights community has been doing everything in its power to move legislation forward on immigration reform. The dream of the immigrant rights community was to see some sort of reform that would answer the question on citizenship and family unification. But this dream has whittled down to border security cloaked as immigration reform. Still the Hispanic/immigrant rights community has continued to press for reform by protesting, fasting, and threatening political action against the Republican Party. All to no avail.
In reality the issue of immigration has been nothing more than a political football to be used by both political parties for their political agendas, with little regard to any sort of immigration reform.
The Republican Party has used this issue in the obvious fashion, primarily in order to build up border security and to appease the right wing anti-immigrant segments of our society. It has been the Republican Party that has drawn the ire of the immigrant rights community for their steadfast stubbornness and roadblocks on immigration reform!
Yet it is the Democratic Party who has used immigration reform most egregiously! Democrats have portrayed themselves as friends of the Hispanic community, but like the Republican Party, they have done very little. President Obama has used the issue to win over Hispanic support for himself and the Party with all of his promises, starting with his promise when he first ran for the office of President to make immigration reform a priority during his first term. Obama’s Dream Act provided only a short window of opportunity for college bound students. In fact, the Dream Act was limited in capability and longevity but President Obama’s campaign for a second term received a lot of political good will from the Hispanic community because of it.
So now we are placed on hold until after the November elections. Then what? Continued inaction until after the next Presidential election?
Herein lies the problem… the Hispanic community does not hold politicians accountable for their actions or inaction. Invariably the Hispanics who do vote will vote for the Democratic Party and those Hispanics who don’t vote will allow the Republican Party to continue down the road of partisan politics. A good example is in the state of Arizona. If Arizona Hispanics came out and voted in the numbers proportionate to their population, there would be a dramatic impact on the right wing attitudes of that state. But Arizona Hispanics don’t come out and vote. Arizona Republicans have no worries about getting re-elected, despite their attacks on Chicano studies, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and their Governor’s political attack and polices that deny Hispanics their human rights.
Arizona is just one example, but closer to home we can look to Escondido for the same political results.
The community most active in the push for immigration reform are the immigrants and the student “Dreamers.”
Unfortunately, many Hispanics in Escondido are ineligible to vote due to their citizenship status. Those who do vote in Escondido could help amplify the voices of the immigrant community by voting for politicians who would support all points of view in their community. But either Escondido voters don’t see the immigration issue as a priority or they don’t realize that the political football game the politicians are playing is not just about immigration but a reflection of their attitudes towards the Hispanic community.
Until the Hispanic community gets out and votes in the numbers that reflect their population and hold the politicians accountable, we will continue to be nothing more than political pawns!