An article published today in Politico contained the following comment by Janet Murguía, the head of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), one of President Obama’s closest U.S. Latino political allies:
President Barack Obama has lost the nation’s largest Latino advocacy organization.
The National Council of La Raza is set to declare Obama “the deporter-in-chief” and demand that he take unilateral action to stop deportations.
NCLR, the nation’s largest Latino advocacy organization, had been the last significant progressive grass-roots immigration-reform organization publicly defending the White House immigration stance. NCLR President Janet Murguía will on Tuesday night demand Obama put a halt to his administration’s deportations.
“For the president, I think his legacy is at stake here,” Murguía said in an interview in advance of NCLR’s annual Capital Awards dinner, where she will deliver a speech lambasting Obama’s deportation policy. “We consider him the deportation president, or the deporter-in-chief.”
As you might imagine, there is buzz today in the immigration activist community, since NCLR was one of the last groups out there overlooking the President’s record deportation numbers as he and Congress continue to play an immigration reform game that has lost momentum.
Looks like NCLR finally paid attention to what most U.S. Latinos already know: President Obama could do more to stop the deportations and separate families.
Here is just a sampling of reactions to the Murguía’s comments:
Finally! But now NCLR needs to ask for all deportations to be stopped not just settle for low hanging fruit. http://t.co/biy7OL2Vmr
— DRM Action Coalition (@DRMAction) March 4, 2014
It’s bad news for @barackobama @whitehouse when NCLR calls you the “deporter-in-chief” http://t.co/KoqQjSPD2H #immigration #timeisnow — americasvoice (@americasvoice) March 4, 2014
On day President to submit his budget proposal, @NCLR joins chorus calling him #DeporterInChief: http://t.co/cbfwhqeLKb #Not1More — NDLON (@ndlon) March 4, 2014
Nice job, @JMurguia_NCLR! http://t.co/oLCpGQ7lG4 — Latino News (@latinoticias) March 4, 2014
Strongly agree with @JMurguia_NCLR @NCLR: president @BarackObama is ‘deporter-in-chief’http://t.co/FCRRA2okQU @politico @LCLAA @NHLAgenda — Hector E. Sanchez (@Hesanche) March 4, 2014
Looks like what pressure from grassroots, @NCLR will stop providing cover for the President’s deportations http://t.co/6YjOP6FITK #Not1More — Prerna Lal-Schubiner (@prernaplal) March 4, 2014
@JMurguia_NCLR : Saddened & angered by ongoing attack on immigrants. Deporter in Chief is sad reality. Proud NCLR is calling it like it is. — Aurora Vasquez (@SoyYoya) March 4, 2014
Interestingly enough, NCLR also tweeted out the POLITICO story, but focused on the first part of Murguía’s quote and not the second part:
@JMurguia_NCLR on #WH deportation record: “For the president, I think his legacy is at stake here.” http://t.co/wB04kRT8Hn #UniteUSA — NCLR (@NCLR) March 4, 2014
Our own Twitter account had a debate about the news:
@AndreaLeon @Cecilia44 @latinorebels @NCLR solely blaming Obama is misplaced.The deports will stop if the GOP controlled House does its job — David Leopold (@DavidLeopold) March 4, 2014
@DavidLeopold but #NCLR finally sharing the truth about how most U.S. Latinos feel, good for them @AndreaLeon @Cecilia44 @NCLR — Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) March 4, 2014
@latinorebels @AndreaLeon @Cecilia44 @NCLR Obama has a shared responsibility; but to call him Deporter in chief plays into anti immigrants — David Leopold (@DavidLeopold) March 4, 2014
@DavidLeopold majority of US Latino voters agree w/label. Good to see @NCLR listening to base. Not a D or R thing. @AndreaLeon @Cecilia44
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) March 4, 2014
That last tweet says it all. In the end, the GOP is not that into immigration reform. The President should know that a large part of the base that got him elected and which NCLR helped to mobilize is down with the back and forth. It’s time to act, Mr. President. Lead. Don’t play tentative politics on this one.
As for NCLR, one FB fan said it bes, “It’s an indication how out of touch they [NCLR] are with their roots and constituency.”
It sure took a long time for NCLR to finally admit what everyone else knew. Good.
[…] she will be “a much less harsh and aggressive enforcer” than President Obama (‘The Deporter-in -Chief“) or the candidate who still has many more questions to answer about her own immigration […]
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[…] Obama promised to deliver a comprehensive immigration reform and instead got the moniker of “deporter-in-chief.” Many Latinos felt that Biden was just too late in calling this policy a “big mistake” […]
[…] And even though Obama issued the 2012 executive order that provided temporary protection against deportation to hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” —young people brought to the U.S. by their undocumented parents— many Latinos were frustrated by Obama’s failure to get a major immigration reform bill passed. The issue came to a head in 2014 when Janet Murguía, President and CEO of Unidos US, the country’s most influential Latino advocacy group, branded Obama the “deporter-in-chief.” […]
[…] that wasn’t too friendly to immigrants either—not for nothing Barack Obama is referred to as “deporter in chief,” having deported more than 3 million immigrants during his […]