Today the White House held yet another one of it’s meetings on immigration, where lots of press attention is garnered but little movement forward actually happens. According to a background press release, at the meeting were “Administration Officials and Stakeholders” including DHS Secretary Napolitano, Cecilia Munoz, Deputy Assistant to the President & Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, the mayors of NYC & San Antonio, law enforcement officials like the heads of the NYC and Philly police departments, business leaders such as the COO of Facebook, and organizational leaders such as John Podesta, CEO, Center for American Progress, Al Sharpton of the the National Action Network, and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO.
It has been confirmed by VivirLatino that there were Latino and immigration advocates at the meeting whose names were not on the official press list, perhaps on purpose to avoid the White House being criticized in the media for their inactions and actions that have led to increased enforcement and deportations. Those people were Eliseo Medina of SEIU, Janet Murguia of the NCLR, Ali Noorani of RI4A, Frank Sharry of America’s Voice, and Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center.
Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said of the meeting :
“While we appreciate the President’s effort to keep immigration reform on the national agenda, his actions belie his intent. We’re greatly disappointed that the meeting didn’t include more voices of immigrants at the table, including representatives of directly affected communities especially the people in the state of Arizona and Georgia where there is a modern day human rights crisis. If the President genuinely wanted to fix the broken immigration system, he would respond to the growing chorus of voices calling for the suspension of the secure communities program and move to legalize instead of further criminalize our immigrant communities.”
The purpose of the meeting itself remains unclear. According the the preliminary release it seemed like an affirmation of Obama’s so-called commitment to “fixing the broken immigration system”. At the top of that commitment checklist continues to be enforcement and deportation and continuously denying access to executive options.
From the White House release :
The President has outlined a vision for fixing the broken immigration system through common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability:
Responsibility from the federal government to secure our borders: Today, our borders are more secure than at any time in the past several decades. However, the Administration continues to refine and strengthen its strategy. Enforcement resources should be increased where appropriate and focused on stopping potential terrorists and others who would do our nation harm.
Hmm like law student and a leader in the DREAMer movement, Prerna Lal?
I requested an official attendee list from the White House Media Office and was told to await the official Readout. The Readout, released minutes ago, says nothing that our communities have not heard already including excuses from Obama.
From the Readout:
The President reiterated his deep disappointment that Congressional action on immigration reform has stalled and that the DREAM Act failed to pass in the U.S. Senate after passing with a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House in December. The President listened to stakeholders describe a variety of problems that result from the broken system, including: educating the best and brightest but then shipping that talent overseas; concerns over the ability of businesses to reliably hire and retain a legal workforce; and the need to level the playing field for American workers by ending the underground labor market. In addition, local law enforcement officers expressed concern that without reform, enforcing federal immigration laws is a distraction from their important public safety and crime fighting mandates to keep their local communities safe, and faith leaders highlighted the damage to families and communities when families are separated, including parents who are taken away from their U.S. Citizen children.
The President reiterated his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform that both strengthens security at our borders while restoring accountability to the broken immigration system, and pointed out that perpetuating a broken immigration system is not an option if America is to win the future.
The President made it clear that while his Administration continues to improve our legal immigration system, secure our borders, and enhance our immigration enforcement so that it is more effectively and sensibly focusing on criminals, the only way to fix what’s broken about our immigration system is through legislative action in Congress. The President noted that he will continue to work to forge bipartisan consensus and will intensify efforts to lead a civil debate on this issue in the coming weeks and months, but also noted that he cannot be successful if he is leading the debate alone. The President urged meeting participants to take a public and active role to lead a constructive and civil debate on the need to fix the broken immigration system. He stressed that in order to successfully tackle this issue they must bring the debate to communities around the country and involve many sectors of American society in insisting that Congress act to create a system that meets our nation’s needs for the 21st century and that upholds America’s history as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. The President further committed that his Cabinet and White House team will follow up with each participant to maximize the outcome of this meeting in order to elevate the immigration debate.
So the President essentially is again telling advocates, activists and community members to not give up and keep trying while we continue to watch our families and neighborhoods being torn apart.
One the one hand I think this is the same old thing, but on the other hand Obama has a point. He can’t do it alone.
The anti-immigration camp has an effective lobbying effort in Numbers USA and its affiliate groups. They just send out the word and thousands (millions?) of people email and fax Congress. I see nothing comparable on the pro-legalization side.
Furthermore, advocates need to convince the American people why millions of undocumented people should be legalized, especially when unemployment is so high. The only argument I have ever seen, which isn’t really an argument at all, is that “they do the jobs nobody else will do.” That’s lame, it doesn’t garner any respect, and makes the undocumented seem disposable.
It’s unrealistic to expect Obama or any other public official to make the case. It’s not his case to make.
In some ways I agree with you that the pro-migrant advocates don’t have the same infrastructure and ability to garner numbers. I think however there are many reasons for this that range from infighting and scarcity mentalities to real simple realities about what kind of access different communities have to email and faxes. The digital divide has a role in this.
Additionally Karen I have seen alot more arguments than the one you have presented including how much money the undocumented do bring into the economy, specifically contributions into social security and taxes paid, just to name two of the more recent reports/numbers I have seen. I think what it is is that this is not about money alone. That would make it too easy. It is also how the issue has been racialized and U.S. institutions have yet to acknowledge and deal in an effective way with that.
Obama could care less about the state of immigration which he and his administration has caused intentionally, by the way.He didn’t invite the Governors to the meeting because he wouldn’t have listened to what they had to say and the Governors should know, by now, talking to Obama about the sorry state of the US borders of Texas, Arizona,New Mexico,and California will never go anywhere which is exactly what he wants.
HE AND HE ALONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT IS GOING ON AND HE WANTS IT THAT WAY AND INTENDS TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.
The Governors of these States have the Constitutional obligation to defend their borders and can ignore Obama’s policies and any courts’ injunction and rulings.All they need to do is do what they were elected to do and what they know is right.Let the chips fall where they may.
He is the most incompetent President we have ever had and he knows it and doesn’t care since he has an agenda of his own at which he is most competent to procur and complete using or rather abusing his office.
The people invited to the WH discussions were there for only one purpose and that is to glisten new ideas to produce even more chaos at the borders and elsewhere.They read like a rogues gallery of thugs who were in attendence.I would say they are as corrupt as Obama except no one at the present time is more corrupt.
The States can protect their borders when the Obama administration fails to do its sworn duty which for the most part is to cause the US to fail at every level whether domestic or foreign,economic,terrorist,the wars we are fighting,his bankrupting of America,his Socialist pact with the UN, and whatever he is involved in which is detrimental to the well being of this country and which he is actively involved and the list of his crimes goes on and on and on.
He is Public Enemy No1 constantly waging war against this country and knowing this he is to be ignored.All he has done is play golf,vacation,and constantly lie at which he is the present day master.Oh,and undermine the foundation and principles of this country,He may be even successful in blowing things up in one term and that would be his goal if he thought he would not win the next election.
He is a traitor,guilty of treason,broken his oath of office continuously,guilty of the murders at the borders,and who knows what else in this country and in and with other countries he is involved in for our ruination.
He is murdering us in general and is guilty of murder in particular.It is only a question of how innumerable they are.
Well I certainly would not go that far – it seems to me that you are advocating state actions like SB1070 and beyond, like the summary killings of young people on both sides of the borders. I wonder if when you say murders at the borders, which ones you mean?
HOW MUCH DOES MAEGAN CHARGE FOR A CHUPADA?
More than you could afford, more than you could ever deserve in Poway, California.
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Maegan, they have phones don’t they? I don’t think it has anything to do with the so-called digital divide but everything to do with organization and leadership. There is no message and no leader who can comminucate effectively.
Again, nobody has made the case to the voters why millions of people who crossed the border without permission should be legalized and/or allowed to apply for citizenship.
When the Civil Rights bil passed the blacks had made their case. I know they received help from Jewish Americans and others, but they made their own case and had their own leaders.
I have seen nothing comparable from immigrant rights activists. All I hear is legalize me, my parents brought me here when I was little, or we do the jobs nobody else will do. You make the argument that they pump money into the economy, but they also cost money, especially in terms of health care, education, etc. Furthermore, there is no reason American citizens can’t do those jobs now that unemployment is so high.
Somebody needs to step up and craft a narrative and make an argument, or this isn’t going anywhere.