President Obama needs to stop politicking with immigrant and LGBT families. The Association of Latino/as Motivating Action ( ALMA ) applaud President Obama's recent executive action protecting LGBT workers hired through federal contractsbut that is not enough.
Most recently, the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States, hailed President Obama as the "deporter-in-chief." This is no title worth praising. For the past six years, under the Obama administration, about 2 million people have been deported.
Last year, ALMA in collaboration with the LGBT Immigrant Rights Coalition, worked tirelessly to push for a comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform, one that respects and takes into account the vulnerabilities of LGBT immigrants. Although we were initially disappointed by the Senate's version of an immigration bill that purposely excluded the Uniting American Families Act ( UAFA ), we were then hopeful by the Supreme Court's decision to strike section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ) down, and also the passage of marriage equality in Illinois. Now, some same-sex binational/mixed-status couples in Illinois have a path toward keeping their families together.
But, the majority of LGBT immigrants, and their families, still do not have a way of protecting their families from deportations, and other anti-immigrant policies. With the House of Representatives' unfortunate, and gross, lack of action on immigration reform, we have channeled our collective frustration demanding that Obama issue an executive order to protect all LGBT people, this time protecting LGBT immigrant families. However, instead of acting immediately to protect the thousands of families his administration is tearing apart, Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson have held off on completing a review of deportation policies for more months so Congress can act on immigration reform.
Therefore, we demand that Obama ask the Department of Homeland Security to end the deportations of families who would otherwise benefit from the prospective immigration reform.
The report released by the Center for American Progress ( CAP ), "Dignity Denied: LGBT Immigrants in U.S Immigration Detention," highlight the issues that LGBT immigrants in detentions encounter: life-threatening issues such as sexual assault, the psychological damages of solitary confinement and the inadequate medical care. This puts the United States in jeopardy of infringing of human rights but, most importantly, it already violates individuals' human dignity.
Obama needs to be reminded that it was immigrant families and their allies, specifically Latino voters, that sent him back to the White House in 2012. This was after he broke his initial promise to act on immigration during his first term. He must also be reminded that the LGBT communities continues to see his presidency as one of the most friendliest to LGBT issues. But in order for President Obama to continue to be seen as a true ally to the immigrant, Latino, and LGBT community, he must act immediately.
The Association of Latino/as Motivating Action have this message for Obama: Mr. President, immigrantsspecifically LGBT immigrantswill not forget the constant fear your administration has placed on our communities if you do not act now. It's time to put an end to the separation of families.
Association of Latino/as
Motivating Action