Houston Chronicle: President Barack Obama is aggressively courting Latinos crucial to his re-election bid as Republican presidential hopefuls risk alienating the minority community with immigration proposals designed to attract conservative primary voters.
To advance Obama's standing with Latinos, the White House has organized policy “summits” for administration officials and Hispanic leaders in key states and communities to discuss initiatives on education, job training and health care.
The meetings will be held in Texas, Arizona, Florida and Ohio, the White House said.
One is scheduled March 9 at Café College in San Antonio, an inner-city resource center designed to help minority students pursue higher education.
Mayor Julián Castro, who will participate in the summit, praised the president for addressing concerns that Republican hopefuls have not.
“It's clear that the Hispanic community has grown tremendously both in population and voters,” Castro said during an interview arranged by the White House before the president's State of the Union speech.
“It benefits the entire nation, particularly the Hispanic community, for issues important to Hispanics to be addressed,” Castro said.
The San Antonio summit is expected to attract 400 to 500 participants, including Hispanic leaders, community business owners and educators from throughout South Texas.
Education, the economy, health care and immigration reform will top the agenda.
While immigration reform is an important issue for Hispanics, and a hot-button issue in the presidential race, it's not the most important issue for Latinos, said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“It's about job training, education and the agenda that this White House has that works to the benefit of Latino communities,” Gonzalez said. “This administration understands Latinos have a higher unemployment than non-Hispanic whites, and this is something that has to be addressed.”
Through a political lens, though, the summits seem little more than an effort to bolster a constituency that will be a key to the president's re-election bid.
Obama received 67 percent of the Latino vote in 2008 when he defeated Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Latino voters also helped provide the winning margin in the swing states of Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, which could again be important in another close election.
Although Texas has voted solidly Republican in recent presidential contests, Obama has enjoyed financial and political support from San Antonio, the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Houston, where the Latino population is increasing.
However, not everyone in the Hispanic community is entirely pleased with the president's first term in office.
Obama's first three years have been marked by a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants — nearly 1.2 million, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Deportations totaled 1.6 million during the entire eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.
A Pew Hispanic Center poll taken last year found that 59 percent of Latinos disapproved of the president's deportation program.
The administration has since adopted rules to prioritize criminals when carrying out deportations, a move that has softened the criticism.
“I praise the president when he does well, and I criticize him when he's wrong,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
“On immigration, he has deported more people than any of his predecessors, and he can't change that, but he has also decided to prioritize criminals and close some deportation cases against people with deep roots in the community,” Gutierrez said.
But even with the record numbers of deportations, Gutierrez said, Obama's record is still a better alternative than that of Republicans.
Republican presidential hopefuls have taken a hard stance on illegal immigration and enforcement.
They have proposed a mandatory E-Verify system to check electronically the citizenship of new workers, physical border walls and measures to remove illegal immigrants.
Some of the measures pushed by Republican hopefuls have appeared anti-immigrant — even to some Republicans who say escalating rhetoric could hurt the party's chances to make inroads with a growing electorate.
“I don't think the rhetoric has been particularly helpful,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Cornyn said a third of his constituents are Latinos, and many Hispanics in Texas have a family member or a friend who are thought of “when they hear some of the careless rhetoric tossed around.”
“So I think this is an area where we have a lot of work to do,” Cornyn said.
Republicans, like Democrats, say issues such as jobs, small business and education are those that will be needed to connect with Hispanics when a GOP presidential nominee is selected.
To advance Obama's standing with Latinos, the White House has organized policy “summits” for administration officials and Hispanic leaders in key states and communities to discuss initiatives on education, job training and health care.
The meetings will be held in Texas, Arizona, Florida and Ohio, the White House said.
One is scheduled March 9 at Café College in San Antonio, an inner-city resource center designed to help minority students pursue higher education.
Mayor Julián Castro, who will participate in the summit, praised the president for addressing concerns that Republican hopefuls have not.
“It's clear that the Hispanic community has grown tremendously both in population and voters,” Castro said during an interview arranged by the White House before the president's State of the Union speech.
“It benefits the entire nation, particularly the Hispanic community, for issues important to Hispanics to be addressed,” Castro said.
The San Antonio summit is expected to attract 400 to 500 participants, including Hispanic leaders, community business owners and educators from throughout South Texas.
Education, the economy, health care and immigration reform will top the agenda.
While immigration reform is an important issue for Hispanics, and a hot-button issue in the presidential race, it's not the most important issue for Latinos, said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“It's about job training, education and the agenda that this White House has that works to the benefit of Latino communities,” Gonzalez said. “This administration understands Latinos have a higher unemployment than non-Hispanic whites, and this is something that has to be addressed.”
Through a political lens, though, the summits seem little more than an effort to bolster a constituency that will be a key to the president's re-election bid.
Obama received 67 percent of the Latino vote in 2008 when he defeated Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Latino voters also helped provide the winning margin in the swing states of Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, which could again be important in another close election.
Although Texas has voted solidly Republican in recent presidential contests, Obama has enjoyed financial and political support from San Antonio, the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Houston, where the Latino population is increasing.
However, not everyone in the Hispanic community is entirely pleased with the president's first term in office.
Obama's first three years have been marked by a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants — nearly 1.2 million, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Deportations totaled 1.6 million during the entire eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.
A Pew Hispanic Center poll taken last year found that 59 percent of Latinos disapproved of the president's deportation program.
The administration has since adopted rules to prioritize criminals when carrying out deportations, a move that has softened the criticism.
“I praise the president when he does well, and I criticize him when he's wrong,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
“On immigration, he has deported more people than any of his predecessors, and he can't change that, but he has also decided to prioritize criminals and close some deportation cases against people with deep roots in the community,” Gutierrez said.
But even with the record numbers of deportations, Gutierrez said, Obama's record is still a better alternative than that of Republicans.
Republican presidential hopefuls have taken a hard stance on illegal immigration and enforcement.
They have proposed a mandatory E-Verify system to check electronically the citizenship of new workers, physical border walls and measures to remove illegal immigrants.
Some of the measures pushed by Republican hopefuls have appeared anti-immigrant — even to some Republicans who say escalating rhetoric could hurt the party's chances to make inroads with a growing electorate.
“I don't think the rhetoric has been particularly helpful,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Cornyn said a third of his constituents are Latinos, and many Hispanics in Texas have a family member or a friend who are thought of “when they hear some of the careless rhetoric tossed around.”
“So I think this is an area where we have a lot of work to do,” Cornyn said.
Republicans, like Democrats, say issues such as jobs, small business and education are those that will be needed to connect with Hispanics when a GOP presidential nominee is selected.
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