We know that members of the Republican Party have made every effort to block any action to relieve the situation of the undocumented community in this country. We must not forget that the people that Republicans want to continue to suffer under the current immigration laws are the same people who came to this country in search of a better life for themselves and their families, people with family values and hardworking. The only thing they want is to stay in this country without fear of being deported. President Obama has continued his fight for immigration reform and this week won an important victory that could bring relief to our community next year.
Late last year, President Obama issued an executive order regarding Deferred Action for Parents of US citizens or DAPA, and it was blocked by a federal lawsuit on behalf of Republicans in the state of Texas ( and 25 other states that joined the lawsuit) in February this year, along with an extension to the executive order DACA for childhood arrivals. After President Obama appealed the lawsuit to the Supreme Court in order to put an end to this battle by the middle of next year, Republicans sought to delay the appeal for another year, in order to prevent the order from going into effect during President Obama’s tenure. The Supreme Court decided not to grant the request instead extending the deadline by just eight days. With the Court’s decision, we can be sure that next year we will know if the executive order regarding DAPA is constitutional or not.
Why would Republicans seek to delay the order by another year? What are they afraid of? They know that the American people want comprehensive immigration reform but instead have spent a lot of money threatening to tear apart the undocumented community. The ultimate goal should be an immigration reform bill, which the president is willing to sign if Congress can put it on his desk, but we know that will not happen while Republicans remain in control of the Congress. The new Republican leader of the House, Paul Ryan, and said he would not discuss this law with the president but has not been able to present an alternative to correct the problem. Many of them think they can deport 11 million people in the country without any negative consequences, a step that would affect the economy of the whole country, and that cannot be. We cannot continue to separate families and jeopardizing our economic future. If we fail to pass immigration reform, we would be sacrificing more than $ 1.3 billion in revenue. In addition, we must protect the most vulnerable communities such as members of the LGBTQ community who come to this country to escape violence just for being who they are. There is still plenty to do and we must do it as soon as possible.
It seems that a new attack on our community, especially from GOP candidates running for president. Friends, we must pay attention to what they say about our Latino community and know who is on our side and who is not, and when the time comes, get out and vote for a better future.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Hispanic
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