Immigration reform advocates are furious that President Obama has once again chosen to delay taking executive action on immigration reform and providing relief for millions of families. They are calling out President Obama for his misguided political calculation, poor timing, and lack of sympathy for the tens of thousands of immigrants who will face deportation in the coming months, including Pedro. View our compilation of full or partial press releases from the pro-migrant movement this weekend, below, for more.
View the press statement from America’s Voice here.
From the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM):
In a breathtakingly harsh and short sighted political miscalculation, immigrant families were sacrificed today. Make no mistake – this delay will have tragic consequences for the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who will be ripped from one another’s arms in the coming weeks and months. A delay of weeks may not seem like a lot to a politician in DC, but it is everything to a child who will lose his or her parents in that time.
President Obama has broken yet another promise he had made to immigrant families. By cowing before squeamish Democratic Senators and GOP bullies he has put politics ahead of the lives of immigrants and urgent needs of America. Immigrant families will respond to this lack of leadership with a brave and fierce determination to make sure promises are kept.
United We Dream:
It’s clear he’s playing politics with the lives of our families, and it’s a huge slap in the face of the immigrant community.
Where we have demanded leadership and courage, we’ve received nothing but false hope and lack of political backbone. To wait nine more week means the President has agreed to deport more than 70,000 people, more than 1,100 every day, and continues cementing his legacy as the Deporter-in-Chief.
SEIU:
America is a nation founded on the dreams of immigrants. Today, we are deeply disheartened that the dreams of hard-working immigrant families who have long contributed to the fabric of the American life remain in jeopardy. The White House’s decision to delay executive action forces countless families to continue to wait in the shadows of fear…
The factor of change is us—the Latino, immigrant, African American and immigration reform voter. And we refuse to become victims of ‘wait’ and the status quo.
PICO National Network:
Today the President and the Senate Democrats have made it very clear that undocumented immigrants and Latinos are simply viewed as political pawns….
The President and the Senate democrats have decided that it’s okay to see several thousand more deportations for a few political gains.
This was never about politics for us. It has always been about our families. We hope the nation’s leaders will one day view this issue through the same lens. Our families have been ignored, neglected, and demonized by elected officials for too long.
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA):
Immigrants and Latinos should be asking themselves who can we trust in Washington, DC. The President and Democrats will need to be reminded that we will not forget the day they turned their back on millions of Latinos and immigrants to safeguard four to six seats in power. The human cost of their political ambition will be their Scarlet Letter to bear for years to come.
National Immigration Law Center (NILC):
Today, President Obama let the politics of fear get in the way of standing up for justice and fairness. It is ironic that at a moment when immigrant, Latino, and Asian American communities have shown their strength – at the ballot box, at the workplace, and in their communities – the president has chosen to stand instead with politicians and others who would prefer a short-term political gain instead of doing what is right and what will have the greatest long-term benefits.
United Farm Workers:
Justice delayed is justice denied. Consequently hardworking immigrants will continue to be vulnerable, exploited, and not receive the respect and dignity they deserve.
There are 11 million reasons for the President to act on immigration, but instead of doing what’s right for the economy, farm workers and the country, he broke his promise to the millions of immigrants and Latinos who are looking for him to lead on this issue in the wake of Republicans’ dysfunction and obstruction.
Alliance for Citizenship:
President Obama’s decision today to delay action on immigration reform may put certain Senate Democrats at ease, but the President’s political calculation provides no comfort to the 11 million hardworking people who will continue to live in fear of being torn from their families by our broken immigration system.
Anti-immigrant Republicans spent more than a year obstructing comprehensive immigration reform, but Democrats also showed little leadership in taking charge to resolve the ongoing immigration crisis.
The President’s broken promise to immigrant families may save a few Senate Democrats on Election Day. But from now to November 4, the Obama administration will deport 68,000 more workers, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers because politics trumped doing what’s right for our country and our economy.
We now know that we cannot trust any politicians at their word.
Voces de la Frontera:
Today’s news is a clear statement from Washington that once again, politics trumps the lives of people…
They have chosen to continue the previous administration’s “endgame” enforcement policies to build and expand a deportation machinery that has torn families apart, criminalized working class people whose labor we benefit from, and only served to benefit private prisons and private military contractors on the border.
Yet again the President asks the people for more time. Our families don’t have that time – not when ICE’s arbitrary quotas demand that 32,000 people be detained a day and 1,100 end up being deported daily.
National Council of La Raza (NCLR):
When candidate Obama asked our community for support in 2008 and 2012, he urged us all to vote based on our hopes, not our fears. Today, President Obama gave in to the fears of Democratic political operatives, crushing the hopes of millions of hard-working people living under the constant threat of deportation and family separation…
President Obama, Senate Democrats and House Republicans have all succumbed to their political fears, avoiding what they all privately acknowledge is the right thing to do, not just for the Hispanic community, but for the country they are sworn to serve. They might rest easier tonight knowing they’ve avoided another inconvenient political problem, but I guarantee that the dreams they have shattered today will haunt them far into the future.
American Immigration Lawyers Association:
The President’s chain of broken promises on repairing, or at least patching, our broken immigration system is a betrayal of all who put their hopes in his leadership.
