Reuters
By Richard Cowan and Julia Edwards
October 2, 2014
After
enraging Latino voters last month by delaying promised immigration
reforms, President Barack Obama is expected to assure Hispanic-American
lawmakers on Thursday
that he is on their side and help is on the way.
Obama,
who for the past two years missed the annual gala held by the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, will return to the group and reiterate
his ongoing commitment to immigration
reform, according to a White House official.
The
official, who asked not to be identified, said Obama also will say he
intends to fix as much of the U.S. immigration system as he can by using
his presidential powers.
Obama's
speech could set a high-water mark with Hispanic voters, who are so
important to Democrats and their hopes of holding the White House in
2016. If so, it would
be another twist in a relationship that at times resembles that of an
old married couple repeatedly squabbling and making up.
Democratic
Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, a leading advocate for
comprehensive immigration legislation, illustrated the difficult ties
Hispanic-Americans have
had with Obama during the past six years.
"The
president of the United States made a promise in 2008, during the
campaign, that he'd get it done in 2009 and 2010, '11, '12," Gutierrez
told Reuters, referring to
a revamp of an outdated U.S. immigration law.
"It's
clear that anybody that looks at this says, 'Wow, we weren't the
priority we should have been and we weren't the priority he promised
we'd be,'" Gutierrez added.
Republicans
in the House of Representatives blocked bipartisan immigration
legislation passed by the Senate in 2013, and the Latino community has
demanded Obama deliver
on a promise to use his executive authority to ease deportations of
some of the nearly 12 million undocumented people in the country.
It
is a step he had promised he would take at the end of summer, only to
delay it because of fears it could hurt Democrats in conservative states
in November's midterm
congressional elections.
For
all of the friction between Hispanics and Obama, Gutierrez had no harsh
words for the Democratic president in the run-up to his Thursday dinner
speech, only great
expectations.
"It's
going to be good news, and I think tomorrow is his platform for saying,
'I've come here to tell you we're going to get this done before the end
of the year' and
he's going to tell us a little bit about it," Gutierrez said.
As
Obama is inside addressing the Hispanic lawmakers, some Latino groups
aim to picket outside to register their anger over what the National Day
Laborer Organizing Network
calls "community-crushing delays" on executive action.
"More
than anything, the question to the president is: 'How are you going to
make sure that Latinos can trust you again?'" said Cristina Jimenez,
managing director of
United We Dream, an immigrant youth organization that has pushed Obama
to slow deportations.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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