When President Obama leaves office in January, among the angriest of core constituencies who wished the president accomplished more in his eight years will most likely be Latinos for his failure to deliver comprehensive immigration reform.
“He completely failed us in 2008, and he failed us in 2012,” the Center for Community Change Action’s Kica Matos said about Obama’s campaign promises to overhaul the immigration laws and offer a path to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants.
They shake their heads about his attempts to get Republicans on board instead of just pushing it through, as he did with the healthcare reform, while Democrats controlled Congress in 2009 and 2010.
He tried showing Republicans that he would be tough on deportation and border security “and it backfired,” said Matt Nelson of Presente.org, which is the largest online organization advancing social justice for the Latino community. “It was a deliberate but failed political strategy” of tacking right to “appease the more nativist elements in Congress.” – READ MORE
