Obama Angers Latino Allies by Delaying Immigration Change

‘Amnesty’ Derided

In key electoral districts, particularly in the south, voter sentiment remains hostile to any effort perceived as rewarding border-crossers. Although Obama has provided no details on the options under consideration, Republicans have derided them as “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.

“Once again, President Obama is playing political games to protect his liberal friends in November by using sleight of hand to temporarily hide his radical agenda from the American people,” Representative Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, said in a statement. “The president needs to abandon his attempt to issue blanket amnesty by executive order, and instead focus on securing the border.”

Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report in Washington, said that if Obama uses his executive authority on immigration, he could motivate more Republican voters to go to the polls.

“It runs risks of looking as though he’s a cowboy doing stuff on his own,” Rothenberg said in an interview yesterday.

Immigration advocates argued that the opposite could also be the case — that by failing to act, Obama could alienate Latino voters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *