(MintPress) — Earlier this week, students from the United We Dream Network, the largest group representing young illegal immigrants, collected 90 signatures from prominent immigration professors urging President Obama to end deportations. Nearly 1.2 million illegal immigrants have been deported during Obama’s presidency, most coming from Latin America. In 2011 alone, the U.S. deported nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants. Despite these figure, Obama maintains a strong favorability rating in Hispanic communities. With the upcoming presidential election, both Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney will be courting Hispanic communities in key swing states, hoping to win the lion’s share of this key voting demographic.
Deportations under Obama
The professors supporting an end to deportations have argued that President Obama has the “clear executive authority” to stop the practice should he chose to exercise the option. The group looked favorably upon previous presidential actions, like the amnesty granted to Cuban refugees by Jimmy Carter in 1980, pushing for a similar approach to the ongoing immigration problem in the U.S.
Figures for those deported during the Obama administration are 30 percent higher than George W. Bush’s administration, according to an ABC news report. Additionally, these marked increases in deportations have actually taken place during a period of significantly decreased rates of illegal immigration. In 2011, just 340,000 illegal migrants were apprehended, down from the high of 1.1 million in 2005.
Not surprisingly, Latinos by and large do not support Obama’s handling of deportations, with 59 percent disagreeing with the president’s policies on this issue, according to a Pew Research Center poll.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a legal activist group, has also criticized the Obama deportation policy, commenting in a recent CNN statement that widespread deportations hurt Latino families.
“All told, this administration has deported nearly 1.2 million people, leaving a wake of devastation in Latino communities across the nation,” the ACLU told CNN. “These record-breaking deportation numbers come at a time when illegal immigration rates have plummeted, the undocumented population has decreased substantially and violent crime rates are at their lowest levels in 40 years.”
Despite the strong rebuke of the president’s immigration policy, many are optimistic that some version of the the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act will allow young illegals to remain in the U.S. for college or military service. The effort, proponents say, is a necessary but insufficient condition for a broader overhaul of U.S. immigration policies.
The Dream Act: A necessary but insufficient condition for reform
According to the Immigration Policy Center, approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from American high schools every year. The sons and daughters of illegal immigrants, many of these undocumented students, have little or no connection to their countries of birth, having spent the majority of their lives in the U.S. The problem is that without proper documentation, these high school graduates cannot attend college, enter the military or pursue a career that requires higher education. In fact, under current national laws, these people are among the millions that are eligible for deportation.
In an effort to create an adaptive solution to the problem, the DREAM Act, was originally proposed by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) in 2007. While the language of the bill has changed a number of times during its various introductions in the Congress, the basic idea is to create a clear path for young, undocumented people in good moral standing to stay in the U.S. legally to attend college or join the military.
Under the DREAM Act, after receiving additional education and work experience, individuals would eventually be granted U.S. citizenship should they maintain a clean criminal record. While the bill has been introduced several times, the most recent time in 2010, it has failed to gather the necessary Congressional support to become law.
An alternative to the DREAM Act, the Studying Toward Residency Status (STARS) Act was introduced by Republican lawmakers this week. If passed, the legislation would give children of illegal immigrants the chance to study or enter the military, but would stop short of granting them U.S. citizenship, according to a report by the International Business Times.
Helping to introduce the legislation Wednesday was Daniela Pelaez, valedictorian at North Miami Senior High School. Born in Colombia, Pelaez was brought to the U.S. by her parents when she was 4 years old. Pelaez is now studying biology and history at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, but was nearly deported earlier this year when authorities discovered that she had entered the country illegally as a small child. Her case gathered national attention and helped inspired the latest STARS Act, sponsored by Congressman David Rivera, (R-FL).
Latinos overwhelmingly support the passage of some version of the DREAM Act, with 91 percent in favor of the legislation, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
While President Barack Obama has previously supported the DREAM Act, his challenger, Mitt Romney has chosen to support alternative legislation that grants students and working professionals residency, not full citizenship. Addressing the issue in a recent statement, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul has said, “We must work together on protecting and strengthening legal immigration, securing our borders, ending illegal immigration in a civil but resolute manner, and ensuring that any reforms do not encourage further illegal immigration.”
Although the economy still prevails as the most important issue for American voters, the immigration issue will become an important one as well, with large numbers of Latino voters expected to turn out for the 2012 election.
The Latino vote 2012
Of the 200 million Americans eligible to vote, approximately 21 million are Latino, around 10 percent of the voting population, according to a CNN report. With public opinion polling indicating a close race between President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney, the growing Hispanic American community is expected to garner special attention from both candidates.
The more important numbers, however, are in key swing states where concentrations of Latino voters are significantly higher than the national average. For example, in Colorado, more than 13 percent of eligible voters are Latino. While candidates still have the summer months to court Latino voters, Obama enjoys strong favorability ratings among Latino Americans. According to the latest Wall Street Journal-Telemundo poll, 61 percent of registered Latino voters favor Obama, compared to the 27 percent who favor Mitt Romney.
While the deportation issue will affect Latino voters, many of whom have undocumented family members, others from within the community feel differently about the issue. Speaking about the Latino community in Florida, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) contends in a recent CNN interview, “The number one issue in the Hispanic community, let’s be clear is economic empowerment.” Rubio, a Cuban-American and possible Republican Vice Presidential running mate, is confident that despite the poor polling, Mitt Romney will continue to improve his standing with Latino voters, commenting in a Fox News interview “It [poll numbers] will get higher as people learn the differences between President Obama and Gov. Romney on the economy.”