It has been pretty obvious that the President has been trying to temper criticism from immigration advocates who have gone largely ignored recently. Maybe he’s thinking 2012, but immigrant advocates are still remembering promises from 2008.
President Obama recently gave marching orders to non-Latino members of Congress to stay away from a press conference that was to ask the President to sign an executive order barring deportations of students who may qualify for the DREAM Act once it is (finally) passed. A business-friendly meeting on immigration featured some hand-picked leaders in politics and business from which basically the same, tired old message on immigration was conveyed: ”I’m with you, but it’s the Republicans and I’m just following the law deporting 400,000 non-criminal aliens.”
But nothing seems on the verge of silly than this other “Latino” confab featuring a bunch of Latino celebrities. The purpose?
create a “constructive national conversation” on immigration.
At least Cheech Marin’s “Born in East LA” could have begun a constructive conversation. Even the worker raid scene in “Fun With Dick and Jane” could begin a good conversation on the current status of immigration reform–it’s non-existent. (Cheech and Jim Carrey did not make the cut.)
Adriana Maestas at Daily Grito has the entire list of invites and the White House memo on the event. Missing, as always, are folks who would actually benefit from immigration reform. I’m sure they’d have a lot to say about the immigration/citizenship process, the “back of the line” that doesn’t move, and even policies such as InSecure Ethnicities and 287(g)otcha!
I think with this meeting, the President has earned the Twitter hashtag in the title.
