Immigrants feel frustrated, betrayed by Obama delay
PHOENIX — Beatriz Esquivel has been checking Facebook daily, eager for information of how President Barack Obama plans to use his executive powers to prevent undocumented immigrants such as her from being deported.
Her hopes climbed Friday when she read Obama's action was coming soon, only to be smashed Saturday morning.
"BREAKING NEWS," blared a post by a local immigrant activist. "President Barack Obama has just announced that he will not take any executive actions on immigration until after November's elections."
The announcement left Esquivel, and millions of other undocumented immigrants, feeling like a political volleyball.
"I feel like I am caught in a political game," the Phoenix woman said. "It's like a game of volleyball. ... I have been counting the days. What's going to happen?"
Originally from Mexico City, Esquivel, 41, has lived in the U.S. illegally for more than 20 years. She crossed the border in January 1994, near Nogales with her daughter, Marlene, who was not quite 2 years old at the time.
In 2013, Marlene, now 22, received protection from deportation under Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
That program allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay in the U.S. for two-year stints without the threat of deportation and to receive work permits.
With deferred action, Esquivel's daughter was able to get a job as a cook at a restaurant and return to college full time. Esquivel also has a 19-year-old son, Gibran, who was born in the U.S. and now works and goes to college.
Esquivel cleans houses for a living. She was hoping Obama would expand the program to parents of children already approved for the program.
That would allow her to work legally, perhaps return to school, and stop worrying that she might be deported someday and separated from her husband, Enrique, 50, who is also undocumented, and her two children.
But Obama's decision to hold off on taking action was like "nos da atole con el dedo" — playing us like a fool, she said.
"This is a huge frustration," Esquivel said. "He keeps saying he is going to do something, but we keep waiting and waiting."
Activists frustrated
Social media lit up after the announcement.
Phoenix immigration lawyer and independent congressional candidate Jose Peñalosa called Obama "#deporterinchief."
"Latino community officially thrown under the bus by Obama," Erika Andiola, co-director of the DREAM Action Coalition, posted on Twitter.
Other immigrant advocates accused Obama of putting politics ahead of the lives of undocumented immigrants who have been deported in record numbers under his administration.
"Today, President Obama placed political calculations over the hopes and needs of immigrant communities," said U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., who has been pushing Obama to "go big" on using his executive authority to protect as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.
"He reneged on his own commitment in June to do what is right, and instead chose what is expedient, betraying the trust of some of the most vulnerable among us," Grijalva said.
In June, Obama vowed he would take independent action on immigration by the end of summer after House Republicans had failed to take up a bipartisan immigration bill passed by the Senate in June 2013.
That legislation would have overhauled the nation's immigration system and given millions of undocumented immigrants a chance to gain legal status and citizenship.
With September here and Congress returning to work this week after its five-week August break, millions of undocumented immigrants such as Esquivel had been expecting Obama to unveil his plans any day.
Despite weeks of speculation of a possible delay, their hope was buoyed when Obama said during a news conference on Friday in Wales that he was reviewing his options on immigration and expected "fairly soon" to decide his next steps.
But on Saturday, White House officials announced Obama won't reveal his plans until the end of the year, after coming under intense pressure from fellow Democrats afraid he could ignite a Republican backlash that could cost congressional Democrats re-election in November.
The officials said Obama still plans to use his executive authority to "take significant steps to reform our broken immigration system."
But they said "extreme politicization" of the issue by Republicans had forced Obama to wait until the end of the year.
Politics of reform
Obama's decision to delay action confirmed that he is playing politics with the issue, said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, an opponent of immigration reform.
"The White House's decision to delay executive action on immigration until after the election is an open admission that the president intends to take actions that the majority of Americans oppose," Smith said in a statement.
Even Republicans who support immigration reform have urged Obama not to take action on his own, saying it could destroy the chances of Congress passing an immigration-reform bill.
"Announcing that you're going to wait until after the election itself just smacks of politics," U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., told The Arizona Republic on Saturday. "People already assumed this, but it's just unfortunate."
Flake said the development "doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth."
"There's been a number of Senate Democrats who have said, 'Please don't do it; it will hurt our electoral chances,' " Flake said. "He's apparently responding to that. That's all you can assume."
If Obama "believes that he has the legal authority and believes it's the right thing to do, then why would he wait?" Flake asked. "It lays it bare that this is a political move, and that's too bad because it will hurt the chances of genuine, long-term reform in the future."
Will waiting hurt?
In a statement, White House officials said Obama wanted to avoid diminishing the long-term prospects for comprehensive immigration-reform legislation by waiting until the end of the year to act on his own.
But Louis DeSipio, a political-science professor at the University of California-Irvine, said he believes there is now almost no chance Congress will pass immigration legislation while Obama is in office. By the end of the year, he will be "weaker in legislative terms and less likely to get something out of Congress," DeSipio said.
By waiting to act, Obama may avoid a Republican backlash that could hurt Democrats in red states such as incumbent U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. They all are facing tough challenges from Republicans in states with low numbers of Latino voters.
But the president also risks causing more Latino voters to stay home in November, which could hurt other Democrats, among them U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, a state with a large number of Latino voters.
Lydia Guzman, a Phoenix immigrant advocate and national immigration chair of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Obama's decision to delay action on immigration has already discouraged some Latino voters who are threatening to boycott the elections in November. If that happens, Guzman fears Obama will continue to put immigration "on the back burner."
Instead, she hopes the delay will anger voters and get them to the polls.
"We need to come out in mass numbers," Guzman said. "Otherwise, he will continue to do what he wants."
Contributing: Erin Kelly, The Arizona Republic