Open Letter #101 To President Obama – Immigration Reform Now!

Forget you John Boehner!

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Nov. 14, 2014: Dear Mr. President,

The question you must now ask yourself is whether you will continue to give in to Republicans and their dire threats and warnings should you take executive action on immigration reform or will you act now for your base, the sake of the Democratic Party in 2016 and your Presidential legacy?.

Like many advocates and immigrants, I want to again believe you when on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 6th, 2014, on the heels of the post-election defeat of  Democrats, you told reporters you are willing to authorize an immigration reform bill yourself in order to kick-start lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate to work on their own solution.

This is a smart move, despite what John Boehner, John McCain and suddenly, Condoleezza Rice, say. You must not continue to punish immigrants at the behest of the GOP, an anti-immigrant party that had enough time to act and did nothing.

The time for that is over. That was the last six years when immigration reform stalled in the Congress all because of Republican Party lawmakers. In fact, they should be made to fear the immigrant voting bloc come 2016 and you can make that happen if you act for the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States now.

The GOP may feel emboldened now but the vote on Nov. 4th does not reflect a national consensus – just agreement by a small group that is not your base anyway.

The reality is Mr. President, that your delay on executive action the first time around hurt Senate Democrats likes Mark Udall in Colorado and Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Your second delay undoubtedly hurt last week with immigrant voters, especially Latinos, despite the silly call by Democratic Senators to leave executive immigration action alone.

That second delay alienated many and angered Latino and immigrant voters and all for what?

The Republican Party swept aside Democrats on November 4th and took control of both Houses because at the end of the day – they were able to energize their base to vote against you. Democrats were unable to energize their base of women, black, immigrant and young voters who felt alienated and dismissed by you and the Party.

You cannot continue to listen to the GOP and its threats. This time around you must act and act now – for 2016 and the future of this country.

The growing immigrant and Latino voting bloc will be key to a 2016 Democratic come back.

Looking at Pew Hispanic Center figures, 57 percent of Latino registered voters support the Democratic candidate in their congressional district or lean Democratic, while 28 percent favor the Republican candidate or lean Republican, a greater than two-to-one advantage for Democrats.

But the Center also found that support for congressional Democrats is down from 2010, when 65 percent of Latino registered voters backed the Democrat in their congressional district and 22 percent favored the Republican candidate. Additionally, the share of Hispanic registered voters who say there is no difference between the two parties is up, to 35 percent today from 23 percent in 2012, The Pew Center found.

But there is hope since just 10 percent still say the Republican Party has more concern than the Democratic Party for the Hispanic community, unchanged since 2012.

There are no more excuses to delay executive action. Remember now your Presidential legacy is at stake. As Presente.org asks: Will you be remembered as the worst President ever in regard to immigration for deporting a record number of immigrants or will you be the President that took a stand, and when faced with an unfavorable Congress made a decision to keep millions of families together?

Mr. President, it’s all in your hands.

Respectfully,

Felicia Persaud.

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