Immigration Reform News 2014: Latino Leaders, Republicans and Democrats Weigh in on Obama
There are three reasons why President Barack Obama's immigration reform is still unfolding: it involves Democrats, Republicans, and some Latino Leaders.
Over a week ago, immigration reform landed in the House of Representatives, again namely the Republicans. A mere 19 additional votes were needed for the House to even consider the reform bill that the Senate approved. Some GOP members are in support of the bill, while the majority is not, according to an April 24 El Diario editorial. A lack of real backing or consensus of the bill has forced leadership to try to control external pressure from advocates of reform, according to El Diario.
In September 2012, Obama instituted and made people aware of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which deferred action for certain childhood arrivals and issued employment authorization for a period of two years. But Obama has stated that he will not extend DACA to adults.
"If we start to widen DACA we were essentially ignoring the law, but I pretend to approve the law," Obama said to Telemundo's journalist José Díaz-Balart. "That is why this is not an option."
Two influential Latino leaders weighed in on the subject. Henry Cisneros, the former Secretary of Housing, as a member of the "Bipartisan Policy Center" (which supports integral immigration reform), stated that he disagrees with those who push Obama to stop deportation because it will establish a negative political environment moving forward in immigration reform
At the same time, Julián Castro, the mayor of San Antonio who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in 2016, says he is not following the official line of deportation. Castro suggests that Obama modify his deportation policy.
House Speaker John Boehner told sympathizers and key GOP donors that he had intentions to approve a reform despite opposition within the caucus. Boehner's second-in-command, Eric Cantor, responded because of political pressure from Obama and blamed Republicans for doubting that the president who deported the most people would enforce immigration laws.
To date, Obama has deported at least 2 million immigrants; but according to a New York Times article, 75 percent of the people the Obama administration deported within the last five years had criminal records.