President Obama said Thursday that deportations of illegal immigrants should be more humane, and to make that happen, he has ordered a review of his administration’s enforcement efforts. Barack Obama revealed the effort in an Oval Office meeting with Hispanic lawmakers on Thursday afternoon, telling them that he had “deep concern about the pain too many families feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system,” according to a White House statement. President Obama — who told the lawmakers that he had ordered Jeh C. Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, to conduct the evaluation — is under increasing pressure from Latino advocates to all but suspend aggressive efforts to deport illegal immigrants. Activists and Hispanic lawmakers say the government is ripping families apart by deporting people whose only crime was coming to the country illegally. Some groups said Thursday that a review by Mr. Johnson would not go far enough. An administration aide said Obama would meet with advocates Friday at the White House to discuss the issue, but many reacted skeptically to the announcement. Relief delayed is relief denied, said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has filed a rule-making petition with the homeland security department seeking changes to deportation policies. The president has no excuse to continue his unjust deportation policy, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus should not delay joining what is now a consensus position that the president can and should suspend deportations. More illegal immigrants have been deported during the Obama administration than under any previous president, officials have said. Within weeks, the government is likely to have deported two million immigrants during Obama’s six years in office, a milestone that has intensified anger among some Hispanics. White House officials said late Thursday that the president would not suspend deportations because his advisers did not believe such a move would be legal. He also will not expand his 2012 order to defer deportations of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as young children, aides said. See also: huffingtonpost/ryan-campbell/obama-deportations-immigration-reform_b_4951666.html
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:05:18 +0000
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