For Immediate Release

Marshall, MN – National pro-immigration group Cafe Con Leche Republicans today reacted to the news the mother and brother of DREAM Activist Erika Andiola were granted prosecutorial discretion and will not be deported.

President Bob Quasius said “We’re delighted to hear that the family of Erika Andiola will not be ripped apart. As Republicans, we support family values and keeping families together is very important to us.”

“The tremendous pressure required to bring about the exercise of prosecutorial discretion highlights the need to replace the current “band aid” approach with substantive legislative change. Most immigrants in a similar situation don’t have the political and media connections that Erika Andiola has due to her leadership position in the DREAM movement.”

“Prosecutorial discretion has been policy since 2000 (Meissner memo) but widely ignored, as deportations in recent years have set new records. John Morton of ICE issued similar guidance in June 2011, yet less than 2% of 411,000 deportation cases reviewed resulted in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. We continue to hear of widespread deportations of immigrants who meet and exceed the criteria of the Morton memo but are deported anyway, leaving broken families behind.”

“President Obama has again promised that immigration reform will be a priority after his inauguration. We hope that President Obama will finally exercise leadership in working with Congress to achieve a broad overhaul of our immigration laws. Band aid approaches clearly don’t work.”

“After President Obama’s reelection victory, Speaker John Boehner announced that Republicans in Congress were prepared to work with President Obama on bipartisan immigration reform, but so far the only response we’ve heard to Speaker Boehner’s olive branch has been the sound of crickets. We believe the election debacle served as a wake-up call for Republicans, and most Republicans in Congress, except a few hard liners, are ready and willing to address immigration reform. Immigration reform won’t become a reality until both parties work together, and now is the time to act.”

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About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have members nationwide, with chapters in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.

Original Link

Yesterday’s election results show it is imperative that the Republican Party improve Latino outreach or become permanently uncompetitive in presidential and many other races. Exit and election-eve polls put Mitt Romney’s votes among Latinos at 23%, although over 60% of Latinos are center-right, according to Pew Research.

Polls consistently show a majority of Republicans support immigration reform, including a path to legalization, and a PEW Research poll from May 2011 showed that even among staunch conservatives there is a 49/49% split on immigration reform. However, due to lack of engagement and outreach and shrill rhetoric on this issue from a small minority of Republican politicians, Democrats have been successful in unfairly framing the Republican party as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, particularly in states where there has been harsh rhetoric on immigration.

This trend started in California. Prior to proposition 187, Republicans were competitive in statewide races, but since Governor Pete Wilson jumped on the proposition 187 bandwagon, many Hispanics left the GOP and since then the GOP has not been competitive in statewide races in California.

Latino outreach improved during the Reagan/Bush years, and President Bush won over 40% of the Latino vote during his reelection campaign, proving that Latinos can be swayed to vote Republican with the right messaging and sensible solutions to issues of interest to Latinos like immigration.

However, since SB1070 and other harsh laws were passed, mass exodus of conservative Hispanics has occurred in Colorado following Tom Tancredo’s candidacy for Governor, in Arizona following SB1070, and in Nevada due to harsh rhetoric from Sharon Angle in the U.S. Senate race.

Cafe Con Leche Republicans initially supported Newt Gingrich, and one of our reasons is that Newt’s campaign recognized the importance of outreach to Latinos and a sensible stance on immigration reform, neither mass amnesty nor mass deportations but a solution that addresses our broken immigration system and seeks to strike a balance between accountability for illegal immigration, and the need to keep families together and avoid damaging our economy. Newt’s campaign reached out to us, and ultimately Cafe Con Leche Republicans provided five members of Newt’s national Hispanic leadership team.

When Newt dropped out of the race and Mitt Romney became the nominee, we decided to support Mitt Romney. Numerous attempts to connect with the Romney campaign’s Hispanic outreach proved fruitless. In our one year of existence, we’ve also had just one conversation with the RNC’s Latino outreach, and were left with the impression the RNC wasn’t interested in working with us due to our pro-immigration focus.

A common complaint among Latino Republican leaders is that RNC Latino outreach is dominated by a small clique of Latino Republicans from Washington DC and Florida, to the exclusion of others, particularly from the Southwest. We share the frustration of Latino Republican leaders from outside the DC/Florida clique that Mitt Romney received bad advice to largely ignore immigration, and some of Mitt’s rhetoric and association with immigration extremist Kris Kobach early in the campaign provided useful fodder for Democrats to frame Mitt Romney as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, which we don’t believe is the case.

It’s time to root out the small minority of immigration extremists from the GOP. That process is already underway, for example Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070, has now twice been defeated by conservative Republicans who differed mainly by having sensible positions on immigration reform. We’d like to see Kris Kobach leave the party. Kobach is a top lieutenant to John Tanton, a notorious bigot and population control progressive, who once bragged how he manipulates Republicans. In a letter to a supporter, Tanton in 2001 stated:

The goal is to change Republicans’ perception of immigration so that when they encounter the word “immigrant,” their reaction is “Democrat.”

Our plan is to hire a lobbyist who will carry the following message to Republicans on Capitol Hill and to business leaders: Continued massive immigration will soon cost you political control of the White House and Congress, given the current, even division of the electorate, and the massive infusion of voters about to be made to the Democratic side. We are about to replay the Democratic hegemony of 1933-53, fueled back then by the massive immigration of 1890-1924.

It’s time for the GOP to recognize this pattern of manipulation, and fully embrace immigration reform based on free market principles, and not arbitrarily low quotas promoted by population control progressives like Tanton. Harsh rhetoric on immigration coupled with lack of adequate engagement with Latinos and race baiting by Democrats has resulted in very low GOP support among Latinos, and we ignore this at our own political peril.

The 2012 election served up lemons for Republicans, but with sensible changes in strategy and direction we can make lemonade instead. Already we’re hearing that party leaders have woken up and ‘smelled the coffee’ and we’re hopeful this situation can be turned around.

President Obama promised to pursue immigration reform during his second term. Due to President Obama’s history of immigration fakery and failure to put anything on the table during his first term, we have reason to doubt this promise, but he is welcome to surprise us. With the election behind us, we have put our partisan hats and boxing gloves aside, and we stand fully ready to work with President Obama and Democrats on immigration reform, which won’t happen without bipartisan support. We hope that President Obama will ‘hit the reset button’ in his relationship with Republicans in Congress, as the hyper-partisanship that has characterized the last four years has been a major stumbling block to governing our nation.

Original link here.

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About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have members nationwide, with chapters in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.

Right now, you’ve got the president and I and a lot of Democrats out there breaking our neck trying to get a real immigration law that takes millions of people out of the shadows, making sure that ‘Dreamers’ don’t have to go back in many cases to countries they’ve never been,

If the Latino vote comes out, the Hispanic vote comes out and changes the election, all of a sudden those guys who paid no attention to you, no attention to the Hispanic community, no attention to the Latino community. All of a sudden they’re going to say, ‘Oh my Lord I guess we better get in line with the president. I guess we better start moving in the direction of paying attention to this incredible, this incredible pool of talent we have out there. So this is a chance to gain influence that’s almost disproportionate to the impact that you may have directly in the election.

Bob Quasius, president of Cafe Con Leche Republicans, taken aback by Biden’s statements, reacted:

Earlier this week we blasted Obama for his long record of ‘immigration fakery‘, making promises at election time, then once elected putting nothing on the table, and blaming Republicans for his own lack of leadership on immigration reform. Obama ignored the Hispanic community until it was time to fire up his campaign and discovered enthusiasm among Hispanics was lacking.

Incredibly, now Biden claims the Obama administration has been ‘breaking their necks’ on immigration reform. The Obama administration has deported record numbers of immigrants, not just “gang bangers” as Obama claimed, but DREAM eligible youth, and many long term residents who did not have criminal records. During the first six months of 2011, our “Deporter-in-Chief” deported 46,686 parents who had at least one U.S. citizen child, while more than 5,100 children of immigrants have ended up in foster care because their parents had either been detained or deported, according to ICE.

Obama has aggressively rolled out secure communities nationwide despite widespread complaints the program fuels racial profiling, and a recent study found 3,600 Latino citizens were falsely arrested! Thousands of Latino citizens born in South Texas have also been denied U.S. passports, and as reported by CNN, some were deported, based merely on Hispanic surname and midwife birth.

Obama failed to exercise leadership with Congress on immigration reform and put nothing on the table during his first two years, even when Democrats enjoyed super-majorities in both Houses of Congress. Instead, in June of 2011 Obama offered a ‘deferred action’ plan (“Morton Memo“) for long term residents with family ties, DREAM eligible youth, etc., presenting as “new policy” existing DHS policy for deferred action,  that had existed since 2000 (“Meisner memo“).

Under DHS policy that has existed since 2000, the Obama administration could have curbed deportations of DREAM eligible youth and long term residents without criminal records, but failed to act until it was time to launch his reelection campaign.

One year after the Morton memo was released, ICE had ‘reviewed’ 411,000 cases for deferred action, and closed just 2%. Recent numbers for Obama’s latest deferred action plan showed that just 2% of those who applied had been granted relief. The program is a ‘band aid’ that offers two years of relief from deportation, with no guarantee applicants will be spared deportation after two years.

Biden’s choice of words was in poor taste, though not surprising given Biden’s long history of gaffes. This reminds us that Joe Biden is just a heartbeat away from the presidency, and his selection as Obama’s running mate a second time highlights another Obama bad hiring decision.

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About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have members nationwide, with chapters in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.

In 1990, the Republicans sought to make right the exclusion of young children from the amnesty that had been passed in 1986 by President Reagan’s first round of the Life Act.  Headed by Republican Senator Orin Hatch, from Utah, the idea of the Dream Act was born.  Even then, Republicans were looking at the Long Term importance of the Latinos in the Party.  The “idea” back then focused on education and internships for the young who were virtually excluded in the first round of “amnesty.”  This version was to help stimulate the economy and it did.  Unemployment was at a low at 7.0 and then dropping to 5.3.  As a result, the Life Act passed with a large majority.  Coupled with tax cuts at the time, the economy boomed.  The Republicans at that time were not taken seriously on the idea of investing in the youth, though.

In 2000 and 2001, the Life Act came to life under the law of the INA, under what is called 245(i) in our profession.  Again the idea of “amnesty” came to the public via the low unemployment rate at 4.0 where it remained for the next few years.   The idea was to allow foreign investment to come help stimulate the economy as U.S. jobs were not a threat.  And so this “amnesty” was again considered and passed overwhelmingly.  Again, the U.S. economy soared.  And again, Senator Orin Hatch led the way for A Dream Act, but was not taken seriously;  hence, the investment in the Latino youth stifled.  Not even the liberal administration came to the rescue.

Twenty years later, those youth in 1990 are now about 30 years of age.  Those who have been able to adjust and become Legal Permanent Residents have done so. How did those youth  become “legal?”  Many of these youths are still unmarried so that they could adjust under their parent’s application.  Others have married U.S. Citizens and have adjusted their status.  Yet many of them are still waiting for their Visas to become available.  They have followed the law but are unable to obtain a work permit or attend school.  They are the undocumented that many call “illegals.”  They are not able to adjust because although their applications are approved, they have turned 21 years of age (in immigration law this is a perilous age for a child to turn) and so they must now wait and wait for their visa to become available.  They have followed the law but are in limbo.

Those who have managed to survive this obstacle course, are now U.S. Citizens and are able to vote.  These are the citizens created by President Reagan’s first round of amnesty.  Those who were eligible for the 2001 Life Act amnesty are barely coming through the ranks to become Legal Permanent Residents.  What does this mean?  None of these so called Amnesty accounted for the many youth that the Republican Senators were trying to warn us about with  Life Act legislation.

None of these laws accounted for the working pool that is now available to become part of the U.S.  These are the many that have fallen through the “cracks” and have become the undocumented pool.  Now there are also those who crossed over without inspection (illegally), but many from the 2001 Amnesty cannot even get a work permit because the LAW FAILED at what it was supposed to do, which was to help the U.S. economy in the long run.  Many of these U.S. citizen children were born here in the U.S. to undocumented parents who are still awaiting their turn under the “amnesty” that many decry.  These are the ones many seek to deport or electrocute on fences.  They followed the law and applied, but we failed them and their children.

To those who cry out for the Dream Act and nothing else: You live in a dream world.  The time for caring for our young and their rights under the same slogan has passed.  There is no vision to encourage work because when a candidate like Newt Gingrich or Rick Perry does see the long term benefit for the economy and America when they advocate for the youth, they are strangled with being anti-conservative.  The idea of just protecting the family and the youth is not strong enough to convince as history would show even when the Republicans lead the fight.

In order to begin to solve the web of deceit and lies of hope, let’s settle on the truth that the Dream Act, as it is tossed around at present, is just a dream.  Tough conservative publication like The Economist, and the Wall Street journal support a type of Dream Act and its economic benefits. Similarly, the CBO projects that a type of Dream Act would increase revenues by $2.3 billion over 10 years. And it is true that the economic benefit that we as a nation are to gain by helping the youth and those who were deceived should be of great consideration for the Republicans. But when those groups that are professional activists acting like “militant clowns,” shout Dream Act or nothing, imagine someone shouting fire in a crowded room.  They are misleading the youth with this draconian uninformed shouting.   They fail to realize that the Dream Act legislation in its current form is a kiss of defeat as it stands.  Just the name creates political gridlock.

There is malice behind some these people when they demand Dream Act or nothing.  Their notion is to hurt the U.S., the Latino Community, the Latino youth, and any idea of Immigration Reform by creating the idea that there is no room for compromise.  Like Romney and Santorum who fail to make the connection of Immigration Reform to the Economy, these groups are misleading not only the youth but America.  If the economy is not important enough to withstand the idea of compromise, then it should not matter who wins.  I believe Mitt Romney and Rich Santorum do not understand the terms of immigration or the economy.  The only candidate who has a vision is Newt Gingrich who understands the connection between Immigration Reform and Economic recovery.  He was, after all, available and involved in the times when the U.S. boomed in the economy and “amnesty” programs that triggered this boom passed.  Those who shout the fire mantra, need stay put and away from any hope for reform.  Because of your lack of knowledge on the subject matter, your voice is smothered into non-credibility like those candidates who shout that the Dream Act is Amnesty.  It is not, but because of your misleading militant voice it remains,  just a dream.

Now that Republicans have formed a proposal for the young undocumented students in the U.S., the Democrats are crying foul.  Democrats, et. al are “infuriated” because it is a plan, based on an economic and responsible means that will help the U.S. economy and the plight of the youth living in limbo status.  It helps to alleviate the fear of the many who are to become uneducated, and who run the risk of living in the shadows of odd jobs, alias identities, and mounting fear of living in between worlds of the U.S. and that of a country that may well be foreign to them, their country of birth.

Liberals further scoff at the idea because it calls for the youth to remain in school, attend the military, or acquiesce to Deportation. According to the plan put forth by Senator Rubio, in order to qualify for the school option, students must attend and complete their education which would allow them the opportunity to obtain a student visa in the process.  With this, they can obtain legal IDs and be able to travel without the fear that they will be detained and deported.  With the option of the military, they can choose to enlist in the military branch of their choice, Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines and make it their career or serve their time and seek to move on to their adjustment of status.  If they choose to stay on this path, they will compete with everyone else who is on the path to Legal Permanent Residency by way of a Non-immigrant Visa.  This idea seems unpopular to the liberals because it is intelligent, responsible, and Republican.  Other than that, it offers a step forward to fixing the broken system that currently is cranking out results in an antiquated method.

A Non-immigrant Visa is a working Visa.  “Nonimmigrants, unlike immigrants, enter the U.S. for a temporary period of time and are restricted to the activity consistent with their visas.” (Immigration Law Sourcebook, 12^th Edition, Ira J. Kurzban).    A non-immigrant Visa, then, is issued to a Foreign Visitor, who abides to the agreement that they do not intend to make it a permanent setting to seek Residency or Citizenship.  The visa that is issued is done so for work purposes.  While the Visa is granted on a discretionary method, it is temporary but can be changed within the current and legal means while in the U.S.  For example, with the students in the Rubio’s version of the Dream Act, the students can   join the workforce and apply for another non-immigrant Visa that will place them on the path to Citizenship.  They must, however, compete with other Visa holders who are currently in the labor market.

This may require Congress to add more Visas to be made available since there will be more job applicants vying for the limited number of Visas.  Subsequently, this could prove to be a win/win situation as the Visa applicants will be working and paying taxes, while the U.S. economy will be reaping the benefits of those taxes and an educated work pool.  In the end, the youth would be able to live in the U.S. without having to adjust their status via an embassy or consulate office that would have them leave the U.S. for an unknown period of time.

In hindsight, the act would have been better renamed as the Immigrant Children Adjusting Now, or ICAN Act.  This would give it a healthy distance from the rancid feeling that liberals and grotesque militants have given to the Dream Act.   In Senator Rubio’s version,  undocumented students and Valedictorians like Daniela Pelaez, facing deportation in Miami, would be allowed to stay in the U.S. and would be able to attend school.  Furthermore, the act helps to alleviate the fear of separating families, especially the youth from their parents should they be detained and deported to a country that is now foreign to them.  More importantly, the act helps to lead to a more secure American and one that could alleviate the ailing economy.

As the Obama Administration continues to deport 1.2 Million, and counting immigrants (including detaining 3500 U.S. Citizens), it also has not offered any form of creative solutions to this complicated issue.  Obama has used his Executive Power to “recommend” halting deportations and instead offers Prosecutorial Discretion to those awaiting to appear before an Immigration Judge.  However, this is hardly a solution to those seeking relief and for the U.S. and its safety.  This continuous state of limbo, prompted Senator Rubio in helping to guide the youth through  this labyrinth of Immigration laws.  And if there is to be a reform in immigration in the next five years, let’s say, this is a bold and courageous effort that could finally prompt this Administration to act upon its overdue promises.

you can read more of Linda Vega’s article on here page here>>>

How is it that President Obama looks the other way when asked how he has helped to create any policies that will help the Latino Community? Or rather he does not shun the questions, he merely laughs and says that he has 5 more years to work on Immigration reform. This is how disconnected he is to the community. He believes that Immigration is the only vital issue that will bring peace to the havoc that his broken promises have brought to the community. Everyday the rise of unemployed Latinos succumb to pressure, and give up on opportunity in this country because they are living a life that has a dead end to prosperity. According to the Pew Hispanic, the wealth of Latino households felt by 66% in the last 6 years. Thus, the “hope” that Latinos anticipated that a new President would bring to this country, and the community’s possible prosperity, has now dwindled into a resentment mood towards Obama and his policies that have caused more harm to the community than any other administration. Unemployment among Latinos has remained the highest in the last two years between 11.3% in 2011 to its current 10% in 2012. Many contend that lack of education is mostly responsible for this wearisome figure, but others look to the lack of opportunity arising from those unfulfilled promises made back in 2008 made by Obama. As a result, a resentment vote is brewing towards Obama in the minds of Latinos.

In 2008, Candidate Obama promised the Latinos that he sought to unite America by giving an open opportunity to everyone. During the campaign in 2008, he repeatedly mentioned Comprehensive Immigration Reform and how he would focus on passing something during his first year in office. To many, this was exactly what brought them out in 2008, finally someone who was willing to work with a Democrat Congress to address issues important to the community. Latinos anticipated that this immigration reform would give them opportunity in economics and education. In fact, this was one of the reasons that Latinos came out in record numbers to vote for that anticipated “change.” On and on, Obama drove this mantra into the Latino Voters, “in the first year of my administration, Comprehensive Immigration Reform will be one of my main priorities,” but that never solidified. It was never even attempted.

Obama bears the responsibility of those broken promises because they have affected the education and prosperity avenue for many Latinos who could have advanced to a better opportunity by now.  Instead they have high unemployment, separated families, and a lost opportunity for attending college by many of the young who are now of voting age.

Subsequently, Republicans have toned down their rhetoric regarding immigration in part because Senator Marc Rubio warned the party of a loss of allegiance from Latinos if they did not.  And he was wise to advise not only the party, but those candidates who staunchly insist that they want legal immigration.  Everyone does.  This pervasive issue is intermingled with other issues that ail the community.  As such, Latinos are affected by immigration and that includes both legal and illegal, and it is that latter that has been used a voting “tease” by both parties.  What is not present in the rhetoric is that immigration is tied into our economy, education and prosperity.  For many years that we have allowed people to misdirect us to believe that immigration is bad for the U.S., they have also managed to convince many that Latinos are “probable cause” for being illegally present in the U.S. and that is just not true.  In fact, this misconception has given rise to laws like SB1070 that has opened the door to a disunity and an appearance of “racism” by both parties.

On the one hand, a small hand of Republicans introduced a law that seeks to use “discretionary” reason to detain those looking or “appearing illegal,” while the Democrats did not raise a hand during the recent Supreme Court oral arguments, to show that the term “discretionary” can infringe not only on the average American, but especially on the “Latino” American living in the Southwest.  And yet, many will look the other way, hoping that Obama didn’t really mean to tell his lawyers to half heartily argue against SB1070 so that the fear of Republicans by Latinos can be kept alive.  It is a pathetic way to keep the Latino community in the shadows full of fear and limited options, and to subtly suggest that the Republicans are racists.  And we are not.

Obama further promises that he seeks to lower the interest rate or even forgive the educational loan for many young students.  Yet, how does that affect the average young person who cannot find a job? While this may mean one less debt to pay, the young have little prospects of a job for the future.  Rather than focus on implementing educational prosperity for the Latino student as Texas has done, Obama gives the attitude that education is the key to prosperity, but which prosperity does he mean?  His double entendreleaves us again, confused listening to spoken speeches that do not offer solutions.  Instead Obama offers higher taxes, growing debt, and larger Federal programs.

In the Southwest, the Latino community has prospered with sound economic policies that were implemented to provide more opportunities for the expanding Latino population.  For instance, the educational plans Texas has implemented for the young 27.3% under the age of 18, gives rise to opportunity.  The top ten percent admission program offers young students, who graduate in the top tier of their High School class, admission into a State University.  In fact, it has proved to be a magnet in help to keep the young student in school.  Those who were 15 years old in 2008 and who sought opportunity in education have benefited in Texas because of these policies that were led by the conservatives who believed and sought ECONOMIC opportunity for the Texas population.  Those Latinos will remember this come November.

Obama has not been forthcoming in his promises to the Latino community or Americans for that matter.  Currently, Latinos are feeling the effects of their 2008 vote for Obama, and it has not been for the better.  From education, to jobs and immigration, many Latinos now resent the failed leadership and the vacuum of power demonstrated by the Obama Presidency.  Where in previous times Latinos were a growing middle class of success, they now see themselves perplexed and oftentimes embarrassed that they believed Obama would help them achieve these dreams of prosperity.  It wasn’t meant to be in 2008, and the resentment vote may make it a limited one term for Obama.  Republicans must step up now and help to lead America, especially the Latino community, out of this mess of hopelessness.

Read Linda’s articles on her page here>>

Latinos Ready To Vote! Is a conservative organization that helps with outreach to Latino voters in Houston, Texas.  In fact, through these forums that we have the opportunity to listen to voters who say that they feel ridiculed and foolish for having believed Obama’s well spoken rhetoric of hope.  Moreover, many of these Latino voters now state that they will not vote for Obama in the upcoming election.

Latinos Ready To Vote! also helps legal permanent residents become U.S. citizens.  These new citizens  will vote for the first time in 2012 and they firmly state that they are becoming citizens for two reasons.  First, they feel that they want to protect themselves from being deported by this administration.  And second, they as new voters they want to flex their power with this new found right, and they want to ensure that their vote will not go toward the Obama administration.  This resentment vote, is alive and growing as we near election.  Moreover, it is the vote that the Republicans should bank on, for this upcoming election.

President Obama’s “new” found voice by way of his Executive Power, is a 180 degree change from a speech where he stated that as President, he had to enforce the laws on the books and that he could do nothing else to help the plight of the undocumented youth in the U.S., whose Latino population exists in the hundreds of thousands.  This power that he previously said that he didn’t have, is now conveniently discovered by way of the Napolitano Memo, five months before the November election and is expected to “temporarily” offer a band-aid fix, to a problem that has this country in a state of limbo.

The Napolitano Memo also comes after Obama received  a  letter about two weeks ago signed by nearly 100 law professors, who offered a strategy to President Obama outlining his authority to provide temporary relief from deportation. The announcement also comes on the thirtieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Plyler v. Doe, which held that states cannot exclude undocumented children from elementary and secondary schools.

Deferred action exists under, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), §103(a), USC 8 §1103 and states that

“The Attorney General shall be charged with the administration and enforcement of this Act and all other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens, except insofar as this Act or such laws relate to the powers, functions, and duties conferred upon the President, the Secretary of State, the officers of the Department of State, or diplomatic or consular officers: Provided, however, That determination and ruling by the Attorney General with respect to all questions of law shall be controlling.”

By way of the Executive Power, the Supreme Court has ruled that the President will grant power to its administrative agencies so as to enforce certain laws. Additionally, depending on the timing, the deferred action can prevent someone from being placed in removal proceedings, suspend a current deportation order, or stay an existing deportation order.  What the Memo Directive does not provide, is a way to change or adjust status under deferred action.

In using his executive power, Obama is not circumventing the law, but he is conveniently using it, by way of the Attorney General and the Department of Homeland Security at a time when he seeks to desperately keep Latinos on his side with “nuggets” of empty promises.  Previously, Obama never pushed for immigration reform in 2008 or thereafter.  He taunted the hopeful by stating that he would pass the Dream Act if placed on his desk, but never lifted a finger to fight for it.

The Napolitano Memo is also at the heels of criticism for the Morton Memo, put in place one year to date, which was supposed to use Prosecutorial Discretion to prevent low priority cases from being placed in deportation proceedings.  This was supposed to have included the young immigrants without a criminal record and who were currently in school.   But the Morton Memo failed to give any type of relief as ongoing review of pending removal cases yielded disappointing results and cases continued to surface, of immigrants being denied prosecutorial discretion despite compelling circumstances.

When Senator Rubio introduced the idea of a new “Dream Act” version, which by the way is very similar to what this “memo” of deferred action seems to say, the President did not applaud the Senator for attempting to help the youth.  He instead, laughed during an interview and stated that he (the President) would work on immigration in the next five years.  And so, for the next few years, Latinos can expect “nuggets” of promises to be thrown our way.

This outreach is temporary and is a promise to the Latino community that the youth will be out of harm’s way, for the moment.  This Memo is slight power that now is distributed to agencies by way of  the Attorney General, and is applied in a discretionary fashion.  For now it is temporary and fails to address what will happen to the young adults in a few years after they age-out or cannot travel, or adjust their status.  For now, everyone is on board, but the after affects when felt, will stir us to ask why didn’t we fight for more?

Senator Rubio’s version was more plausible because it sought to go through the proper channels to have the Dream Act become Congressional Law.  The law would have allowed the youth to become educated and then follow through to a non-immigrant visa that would have placed them in line for receiving their Legal Permanent Residency.  It would have created a set of educated, high tax payers, who could have become part of our society and eventually become U.S. Citizens by competing for it.

The Napolitano Memo is Administrative and non-binding meaning that it can be rescinded at any time, and these Latino youth would be in the same limbo as before.  Moreover, the Memo gives approximately 800,000 to 1.5 million the opportunity to apply for the deferred action if they have the following:

1. immigrants may apply for a two-year renewable grant of “deferred action” if they entered the United States before age 16;
2. are younger than 30;
3. have lived continuously in the United States for at least five years;
4. have not been convicted of a felony or significant misdemeanor; and are currently in school, have graduated from high school or earned a GED, or served in the military.

First, the Memo states that all laws are to be enforced and those with the initial power to decide whether to implement the Memo for those outside the court system are CBP, USCIS, and DHS.  These agencies who first encounter the youth shall have the power to use discretion as to whether the youth should be placed in removal proceedings.

Second, if the youth are currently in removal proceedings, the standard will be applied in a discretionary manner on a case by case basis, by whom is not clear.  Using the criteria stated above, those making the decision will decide the fate of these youth.  The many who did not finish school or were not enlisted in the military are not eligible for this temporary relief.   Moreover, it is unclear whether those  about to be 31 years will be in unlawful status as this deferred action does apply to them.

Finally, those who are not currently in proceedings will be eligible to apply for the deferred action through USCIS.  The agency will  use the criteria stated above, and use discretionary authority to decide the status of the youth.  It is not for certain if the applicants will be approved or not, but it is a careful choice that the many will have to make.

If we listen to what Obama is saying, he speaks loud and clear in that he states, that this is not amnesty, it is not a benefit, and will not give the youth a path to citizenship.  What it gives us is a promise that will not be a congressional “law” and may not be enforced if we use the Morton Memo as an example.  He is trying to win favor by now coming forward to use powers that he had all along and has given us the Napolitano Memo that is limited.  In other words, he is promising to right a wrong that he should have legally done a long time ago, again.  Latinos should remind him that we are conservative when it comes to family, and will protect our children and their dreams this time around.

Linda Vega is an Immigration Attorney and  Founder of Latinos Ready To Vote