WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama courted the vote-rich Latino community Monday and urged activists to build a national movement to pressure Republicans to overhaul the nation's broken immigration laws.
Obama reiterated his promise to usher in comprehensive immigration reform, but told the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic rights organization, that it could not be done without GOP help.
“Let's be honest, I need a dance partner here, and the floor is empty,” Obama said. “I need you to keep building a movement for change outside Washington, one they can't stop.”
The president made the comments during the NCLR annual conference, where he was received with boisterous applause and cheering.
Hispanics overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008, helping him win the swing states of New Mexico, Colorado, Florida and Nevada. The minority community is considered key to his re-election next year.
Obama was praised by NCLR President Janet Murguía for naming the first Latina to a Cabinet post, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
But Murguia denounced the “record number of deportations” carried out by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. She pointed out Obama's failure to get comprehensive immigration reform or DREAM Act proposals passed by Congress.
Obama said he swore “to uphold the laws on the books, but that doesn't mean I don't know very well the real pain and heartbreak that deportations cause.”
When he said he could not bypass Congress and change the laws on his own, the audience erupted in a clapping chant: “Yes, you can! Yes, you can!”
“The audience reaction sent a loud and clear message that the Latino community wants more than speeches,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice Education Fund, an immigration advocacy group.
The non-partisan National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials called on Obama to pass increments of sweeping immigration reform, starting with the DREAM Act.
The DREAM Act, passed last year by the House but killed in the Senate, would provide eventual citizenship for immigrants brought here illegally by parents but who complete two years of college or military service.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which writes immigration law, opposes the DREAM Act as an “amnesty.” Congressional Republicans instead support a bill recently filed in the House and Senate that would prevent ICE agents from using prosecutorial discretion in deporting DREAM Act youth.
Obama told the NCLR conference that five years ago nearly two dozen Republican senators supported comprehensive immigration reform.
“Today they've walked away,” he said.
Republicans also helped write the original DREAM Act legislation, Obama said, “because they knew it was the right thing for the country. Today, they've walked away.”
Obama said political winds have shifted, with states trying to pass a patchwork of laws to curb illegal immigration.
“We can't have 50 immigration laws across the country,” Obama said.
He implored Latinos to remain loyal to Democrats.
“Remember who it is that we need to move in order to actually change the laws,” he said.
