During a time of the year when presidential candidates are reaching out to different communities to secure their vote, President Obama has gained support from the Latino community by passing such orders like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and by being a constant supporter of the DREAM Act.
“[Latinos] know that he’s on the right side of the immigration issue and wants to work with Congress for comprehensive immigration reform,” says deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter.
Governor Romney has hinted that his model for immigration reform is similar to Arizona’s strict immigration law, and that he would oppose the DREAM Act if it was ever pursued in Congress.
As previously reported on La Plaza, about 31% of all new immigrants as of 2012 are of Latino descent. And as Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions says, “[w]hat started as a war on undocumented immigration is now being perceived as a war on Latinos.”
Legislation like the DACA program and the proposed DREAM Act offer a glimmer of hope for immigrants, and shows that Obama is making an effort to work toward these policies. Obama says that he will make “comprehensive immigration reform” a priority if elected to a second term.
“We need to fix a broken immigration system, and I’ve done everything that I can on my own and sought cooperation from Congress to make sure we fix the system,” says Obama. “We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now.”
[…] This article originally appeared on Latinovations. […]