Editorial:
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made good news this past week with the immigrant community and immigration advocates. First, she announced that she wants to ensure that undocumented immigrants can gain full citizenship by reforming the patchwork system and limited protections President Obama put in place. Later, she announced the appointment of DREAMer Lorella Praeli as her Latino Outreach Director. Clinton’s bold actions differentiate her from all other candidates.
The Republican hopefuls have been placed on notice when it comes to the Hispanic vote.
We applaud the appointment of Praeli. Immigration reform is a litmus test for the Hispanic community and on this front Clinton passes the test with flying colors. Clinton has also appointed Amanda Renteria as national political director and Jose Villarreal as campaign treasurer.
With that said we must take a look at these appointments with a word of caution – is this a new day for Hispanic politics or is this just another red herring, a political movida, to secure the Hispanic vote?
Lest we forget her last Presidential campaign in 2008: Hillary Clinton wasn’t such a strong supporter of immigration reform and in fact took a cautious approach to immigration. She opposed granting drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. So is this a new Clinton or is this just a new strategy to win?
In 2008, Barrack Obama took a similar path and promised immigration reform, making it one of his top priorities. Sadly, under his watch, President Obama became known as the “Deporter-in-Chief,” enforcing harsher policies put in place prior to his presidency. Further, after two administrations, Obama has failed to find any path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The other cautionary note is that while immigration is now seen as a litmus test, it is not the top priority for the Hispanic community. Immigration cannot become the sole topic of discussion when it comes to the Hispanic community. There are issues of empowerment, employment, housing, education, health, and wealth that impact the voters. To whittle down the Hispanic community’s issues to the sole issue of immigration would be a mistake.
As we noted we applaud the appointment of Praeli. It is a good start and the promise of political empowerment is there. But it will take the Hispanic voter to ensure that a promise becomes reality.