Open Letter #102 To President Obama – Immigration Reform Now!

President Barack Obama shares a laugh with senior advisors during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 17, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Nov. 17, 2014: Mr. President,

Since you can’t say it publicly, I will – those darn Republicans have some nerve!

House Speaker John Boehner and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have quickly outlined their agenda for the next congress. No surprise – repealing ‘Obama Care’ is at the top of that list along with approving the Keystone pipeline. This, despite concerns about the possible impact on the environment!

But missing from those plans is of course immigration reform! The GOP has done nothing to solve the issue in the past six years and will spend the next two doing nothing still.

And Boehner, McConnell and other Republicans want you to also do nothing. That is why they suddenly have contracted diarrhea of the mouth when it comes to warning you not to go the executive action route.

Boehner in his usual dramatic fashion has called any executive action a “nuclear threat” while McConnell this past week deftly avoided the question in his Time Magazine interview.

Like ‘do-nothing’ Boehner, McConnell says he “plans to thwart any potential executive action on immigration by passing appropriations bills that would limit funding for such actions.”

Really, Mr. McConnell? In case you did not know, the US Citizenship & Immigration Services, the agency charged with processing immigration applications, is funded almost entirely by fees paid by immigrants and they will rake in the dough if executive action happens.

So it’s a great move you are embarking on Mitch!  Congrats on taking the prize for least likely to know how the USCIS is funded! That will certainly help the GOP win back the White House in 2016!

Perhaps giddy over the recent Senate take over, McConnell, Boehner and the GOP have quickly forgotten the beating they took in 2012 and the reason for that loss. Boehner certainly has.

Yet without an immigrant voting bloc, the GOP has zero chance of winning a national election. The only reason they won on Nov. 4th is because the major seats up for grab were in predominantly conservative White districts and the immigrant and black voting base did not show up in numbers for Democrats because they are completely disheartened at the do-nothing approach in Washington.

So please Republicans, don’t let Nov. 4th blind you to the reality – there is no way your party will win a national election given your track record. Further, the track you are about to embark on will push you into fossil status.

Keep doing nothing on immigration and bashing the President on executive action and your performance in 2016 will be one for the history books on dismal elections.

Mr. President, I’m thrilled like so many advocates and undocumented immigrants that you have shown leadership to date and simply insisted you will pursue some form of relief within your power despite the haters. There are several actions that can happen and should happen as soon as you return from Asia.

Business leaders and immigrants alike are waiting for you to act without further delay this holiday. Deliver a Thanksgiving gift to remember and preserve your legacy and a win for Democrats come 2016. And show those Republicans who is the real boss!

Respectfully,

Felicia Persaud.

The writer is CMO of Hard Beat Communications, which owns the brands News Americas Now, CaribPR Wire and Invest Caribbean Now.