President Obama delivers no change, only empty promises Read more: http://www.nydail

Change Takes Courage. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._promises.html

That is the name of a national campaign launched Thursday to urge President Obama to act decisively to deliver relief to immigrant communities around the country.

"Change takes courage" is also a not-too-subtle message to the President to exercise his leadership and fulfill the promises he made during his initial election campaign. Those promises brought him 67% of the Latino vote.

Organized by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), the campaign has the support of many grassroots organizations across the nation.

"The administration's deportation-only strategy is devastating our communities," said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of The New York Immigration Coalition, which is part of the campaign. "It is all the more painful and baffling given the President's continued expressions of support for fixing our broken immigration system and bringing folks out of the shadows."

Obama again expressed his support for the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform last Tuesday, in a Univision-sponsored, nationally televised town hall meeting on education at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington. His words, though, lost much of their meaning when, responding to a question by the moderator, he said that halting deportations of noncriminal immigrants by Executive Order "would not conform with my appropriate role as President."

Surely, breaking his promises and allowing thousands of families to be torn apart conforms even less with a President's appropriate role.

As a candidate, Obama eloquently - even passionately - promised to end the summary deportations and enforcement-only policy of the Bush administration. Yet two years have gone by, and the Obama administration is responsible for deporting a record 800,000 people, the majority of whom had not committed any crime.

For many Latinos, Obama, the inspiring young leader they voted for does not exist any more. To them, he has morphed into one more politician whose campaign promises are quickly forgotten as soon as the election is over.

Looking ahead to the next election, Obama has to be pondering how to win back the trust - and the votes - of Latinos, many of whom are deeply disappointed by what they see as a betrayal. After all, data recently released by the U.S. Census leaves no doubt about the increasing weight of the Latino vote. Having reached 50 million, Hispanics are now the largest minority in the U.S., accounting for more than 16% of the population.

In the 2008 general election, about 10 million Latinos voted. But 500,000 new voters join the rolls every year, which means that in 2012 that number could go up to 12 million. No politician can turn his back on that many votes.

This is not to say that Hispanics across the U.S. are poised to jump the Democratic ship and support Republicans. The question is, if they are fed up with nice words and empty promises, they may simply stay home on Election Day. That would be disastrous for Obama's reelection plans.

The Change Takes Courage campaign gives Obama the opportunity to make good on his promises by asking him to halt the deportations and to grant parole to DREAM Act students, to parents of U.S. born children and to immigrants with deep roots in the community.

It will also push for greater protections for all workers - especially immigrants - and for the discontinuation of programs like 287g and Secure Communities that undermine the safety of communities by turning local authorities into de facto immigration agents.

"Change takes time," Obama told a national TV audience of millions of Latinos on Tuesday. But the separated families, the persecuted workers and an entire immigrant community demonized by prejudice and racism have no more time.

Their response to Obama is clear and to the point: "Change takes courage, Mr. President."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz1IhE6Ktro

Change takes time rofl. How long, until we're dead? Why do they give citizenships to dead undocumented soldiers anyway. Is this some kind of inside joke?

Trust me the way things are going right now even a dead person would stand up and run away from this country.

so true. look at Health care reform, obama and the congress used all their power to get it done. how about immigration reform? the reason of immigration reform keep failing becuase they want Latino come out and vote for them, then keep lying to them for the empty promises.

These days every interest group seems to have its national campaign--let's hope this one produces results (not holding my breath).

I love Obama's optimism. I think DA will pass soon.

I don't know what you are smoking, but I want some too.

ahahahahahahahahahahahaha... haha... ha....

Oh you're serious.

Obama is doing what he can to push this and it looks like he is going to be re-elected.

He's definitely getting reelected. There is no doubt about this. He will fulfill his promise of delivering CIR in his first 100 days