Think of it as a multiple-choice question: When Speaker Boehner says, as he did on Tuesday, that immigration reform could still happen next year, is he being a) cynical, b) manipulative, c) untruthful or d) all of the above.
Whatever your answer may be, there is no doubt he and House Republicans are still playing games with the lives of millions of people. This is a man who has made the same promise several times before only to renege on his word again and again.
“I would hope that the President would continue to follow the law, and begin to take steps that would better secure our border,” Boehner said. “It would create an environment where you could do immigration reform in a responsible way next year.”
Yeah, sure, Mr. Speaker. Of course, it is not that you are trying to stop the President from taking action on an issue about which you and your GOP colleagues have done nothing, but that will determine how the Latino vote goes in the next Presidential election, right? I have news for you: No one is buying it.
“We won’t fall for Republicans’ empty commitments any more. The time has passed for Republicans to act on immigration. The President and his advisors should not fall for the political trick, ” said César Vargas, co-director of the DREAM Action Coalition.
Then again, maybe Boehner and his people have nothing to worry about after all. In one of those dizzying turnarounds Obama is so expert at, all the brouhaha about his “firm decision” to enact administrative relief for immigrant families by the end of the summer, may end up being, well, just so much hot air.
“America cannot wait forever for (House Republicans) to act,” Obama had said in June. “I’m beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, without Congress.”
But that was then and this is now. Last week the news from the White House was that Obama could delay executive action until after the November elections because, in GOP-leaning states, some Democrats fear their chances could suffer if the President acts now.
In the meantime, people continue to be deported and families torn apart.
Such a weak-kneed position has not gone over well with the immigration community.
United We Dream, another national group of Dreamers, put out a message that expresses the feelings of millions of immigrants:
“For far too long our families have suffered the consequences of political maneuvers that put politics over families,” said Lorella Praeli, the group’s director of advocacy and policy. “ Our families need leadership. But where we have demanded leadership and courage, we’ve received false hope and a lack of political backbone. Dreamers say: ‘Enough!’”
Will the President find the courage to do the right thing?
albor.ruiz@aol.com
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