Is Obama playing with Hispanics?<

There is no surprise that the Republican adversaries of President Barack Obama are criticizing his position on immigration. But what is really surprising is that some of his closest Democrat allies are beginning to do the same, assuring that Obama is playing around with Hispanics.

Virtually all Hispanic Democrats in Congress – including the only Hispanic Democrat Senator, Bob Menéndez (D-New Jersey) – are criticizing his present position regarding immigration. I was surprised last week, when I heard Luis V. Gutiérrez, (D-Chicago), an old ally of Obama and from the city where the president is from, Gutiérrez visited Miami as part of a national tour to denounce that Obama is deceiving Hispanics when he assures that he is fighting for a comprehensive immigration reform, while he does nothing to prevent the massive deportation of immigrants that shouldn’t be deported.In the last few weeks, Obama has intensified his requests for Congress to pass an immigration reform that would strengthen border control and at the same time, would offer a way to legalization to millions of undocumented residents who are willing to pay fines and learn English.

But Gutiérrez and his Democrat colleagues are declaring that Obama’s pro immigration reform campaign is just a political act because the President knows that he is not going to get the votes needed for Congress to pass his immigration reform bill. Obama’s speech can help him gain Hispanic votes in the 2012 election by portraying Republicans as the evildoers in the movie, but they say, he is creating false expectations among Hispanics.

So, what should Obama do? I asked Gutiérrez. There are many things that Obama can do with the executive powers that he already has, without having to go to Congress, Gutiérrez said.

First, Obama could use his presidential power to stop the deportation of almost 65,000 undocumented students that were brought into this country when they were children, students that graduate from high school every year and want to go to college, or want to join the armed forces. He added that even though Obama has requested several times the approval of the DREAM Act, that would allow them to stay in the country, he is not using his discretionary powers to delay their deportation.

Second, Obama should use his executive power to delay the deportation of the almost 4 million parents of children who were born in this country, children with at least one parent lacking legal status, he said.

Just like Obama used his discretional powers to award temporary resident status to Haitians, to avoid them being sent to a Haiti devastated by the earthquake, he should stop the deportations of Mexicans to Ciudad Juárez, a city devastated by violence, he added.

And why is Obama not doing any of that? I asked Gutiérrez.

“The president doesn’t feel any pressure to do so, because he feels that Hispanics will vote for him anyway,” he answered. “But this is a matter of life or death that must be taken very seriously and shouldn’t be used to deceive the Hispanic community as we get close to the election.” In reply to that criticism, Obama said in a recent speech given in El Paso, Texas: “I would like to go above Congress and change the law unilaterally, but that is not they way democracy works.” A White House official added that, while the government keeps putting pressure on Congress to approve the immigration reform, it is also changing the mechanism of deportations, to concentrate in the removal of immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

In my opinion: Obama’s speeches demanding the approval of a comprehensive immigration reform are a good electoral strategy to gain Hispanic voters for the 2012 election, but they are producing false expectations among the Latin community. With Congress now ruled by Republicans who are against the legalization of immigrants, that is not an honest position.

Obama should stop playing with the Hispanic community. Instead of being afraid of criticism from legislators who are afraid of Hispanics, legislators who accuse him of wanting a general “amnesty” for 11 million of undocumented residents, he should use his discretional powers to give a temporary status to certain categories of immigrants who deserve it.

For example, as he said in his recent State of the Union address, “it doesn’t make sense” to deport thousands of undocumented students who were raised as Americans, and others – including many from China, India and other parts of the world – who came to this country to study in some of the best universities of the United States and whom, after getting their degrees, “are sent back to their countries to compete against us.” Obama can stop those deportations using his discretionary powers, but he doesn’t do it.