BREAKING: President Obama Agrees to Deport 70,000 More People, Separate Countless More Families

“Dreamers are outraged and will take action.  Obama’s legacy with our communities: deporter.  Dreamers are outraged and will take action like never before.”

Reports have announced that President Obama has once again delayed using his indisputable executive authority to provide deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants. The President is instead waiting until after the November midterm elections to make an announcement, leaving millions of mothers and fathers under the perpetual threat of deportation.

Cristina Jimenez,  Managing Director for United we Dream, issued the following statement, 

“The President’s latest broken promise is another slap to the face of the Latino and immigrant community. On June 30, President Obama stood in the Rose Garden and said, ‘If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours. I expect [Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice’s] recommendations before the end of summer and I intend to adopt those recommendations without further delay.’ Dreamers have held him accountable at every corner, but the President is more content playing politics with the lives of our families.”

“Where we have demanded leadership and courage from both Democrats and the President, we’ve received nothing but broken promises and a lack of political backbone. To wait nine more weeks means the President has agreed to deport more than 70,000 people, more than 1,100 every day, and continues cementing his legacy as the Deporter-in-Chief.”

“To wait nine more weeks means that I must again look my mother in the eye and see the fear she has about living under the threat of deportation every day. I must tell her that the President and the Democratic Party think that she will have to live with the threat of imminent deportation because Democratic leadership and the President are more interested in politics than in protecting immigrant families.”

“But Dreamers will not soon forget the President and Democrats’ latest failure and their attempts to fool the Latino community, and we remain resolute in fighting for justice for our families. Dreamers across the country will escalate until the moral crisis in our community is lifted and millions of people are liberated from the fear of being torn from their families.”

United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation, a powerful nonpartisan network made up of 55 affiliate organizations in 26 states. UWD organizes and advocates for the dignity and fair treatment of immigrant youth and families, regardless of immigration status. We seek to address the inequities and obstacles faced by immigrant youth and believe that by empowering immigrant youth, we can advance the cause of the entire community—justice for all immigrants.

Published in Latino Daily News