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Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor, Daily Beast columnist and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Follow him on Twitter: @rubennavarrette. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

San Diego (CNN) -- Now that President Barack Obama has broken his promise to take executive action on immigration, and put off the thorny issue until after the midterm elections -- and I predict, for the remainder of his presidency -- many immigration reform advocates are angry, surprised and disappointed.

I'm none of those things. Here's my take: When it comes to Obama and immigration, keep your expectations low. Despite what he says, don't make the mistake of thinking that he actually supports legalizing the undocumented. Finally, whatever he says, don't assume it's the truth.

When it comes to immigration, Obama has a long trail of half-truths and broken promises. In July 2008, the presidential candidate told the National Council of La Raza that, if elected, he would make the issue a top priority and address it within the first 100 days. That didn't happen.

Ruben Navarrette Jr.

White House officials then moved the goal line to, well, the first term. That didn't happen either.

From 2009 to 2011, Obama told supporters that he couldn't curb deportations because he was "not a king."

Yet, in 2012, eager to re-engage Hispanic voters for his reelection, Obama summoned his inner monarch when he unveiled "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals," which gives undocumented young people a temporary reprieve from deportation and work permits.

In 2013, Obama did another about-face and returned to his rhetoric about how he couldn't act alone to stop deportations. He also gave half-hearted support to the Senate immigration bill, which would militarize the border and only legalize about half of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

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Opinion: Want immigration reform? Elect a Republican

Immigration reform would have to wait for 2010. And then 2011. And then 2012. And then 2013. And...

In light of President Obama's decision to delay his much-anticipated edict on immigration until after November's elections, some critics are asking why the president and Democrats in Congress didn't pass immigration reform back when they had overwhelming majorities in both House and Senate. It's a good question and a good reason to revisit 2009 and 2010, when immigration reform could have become a reality.

As a presidential candidate, Obama promised to "put comprehensive immigration reform back on the nation's agenda during my first year in office." After victory in 2008, he had the clout to do so: sky-high approval ratings, 257 Democrats in the House and, for a while, a filibuster-proof majority of 60 Democrats in the Senate.

And yet, immediately after being sworn in, Obama began to send out subtle signals that immigration reform wasn't a top priority. Reform was a "serious concern," Obama told a group of regional reporters in March 2009, but not an urgent one. "We've started to talk to all the parties involved and both parties here in Washington about the prospects of taking legislative steps," Obama said. "But obviously we've got a lot on our plate right now."

Immigration activists pressed hard for Obama to act; after all, he had promised. As 2009 unfolded, Obama encouraged the activists to believe he was committed to introducing a comprehensive reform bill. After a White House meeting, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., told reporters Obama had promised a bill "in the very near future."

The next month, April 2009, the White House sent out word Obama was preparing to move. "Mr. Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May," the New York Times reported, "and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall."

Things seemed to be on track. Labor leaders representing some of the very organizations that had killed reform under George W. Bush announced their support.

Throughout June, Obama and top Democrats promised action. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said comprehensive immigration reform "is going to happen this session, but I want it this year, if at all possible." Obama told a Hispanic group he was "committed" to passing reform. After meeting with congressional leaders, he declared they all "want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now."

As the summer of 2009 went on, though, the talk slowed down as work on health care reform consumed the administration. Immigration fell out of the first tier, if it had ever really been there. By August, Obama put reform at the bottom of a long list.

"I've got a lot on my plate," he said, "and it's very important for us to sequence these big initiatives in a way where they don't all just crash at the same time. And what we've said is in the fall when we come back, we're going to complete health care reform. We still have to act on energy legislation that has passed the House We still have financial regulatory reform that has to get done That's a pretty big stack of bills."

Originally posted here:
Why didn't Obama pass immigration reform when he had the chance?

Barack Obamas decision to put his immigration reform programme on hold is a bitter disappointment to millions of the undocumented across the US, Mexicans and countless Latinos and Irish alike. The forced deportations continue apace 368,644 last year and several thousand more will follow them between now and the mid-term elections in November, after which he has promised to re-engage with the issue.

Obamas problem is the same it has been throughout his two terms, congressional gridlock and a hardline, Tea Party-dominated Republican majority in the House which is deeply hostile to easing restrictions on immigration despite the reality that this may yet scupper its presidential hopes for 2016. After the 2012 presidential election, when Republicans received a paltry 27 per cent of the Hispanic vote they talked publicly of the need they needed to re-evaluate their hard line. But such a re-evaluation has been distinctly half-hearted, particularly in the House. Unlikely to dislodge its majority, Obama is desperate to maintain the three-seat Democratic majority in the Senate.

Frustrated by the defeat in the House of a bill agreed by the Senate last year to provide a path to citizenship for illegal migrants, the president had promised to push measures through by executive order that would allow five to ten million of them to work in the US, a measure certain to enrage Congress and certainly put that Senate majority in doubt. Some Democrats also warned that the move would jeopardise any future attempt to reach a bipartisan accord on moving forward on the issue. And, at stake then, would be more than immigration reform as a Republican Senate would also try to dismantle his landmark healthcare reform .

Vulnerable Democrats in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Alaska, and North Carolina, have successfully pressed him to hold back on the immigration issue until after the elections. His retreat has a price, however, it has been met by howls of rage from the immigration lobby denouncing what it sees as another all-too-typical Obama retreat. The presidents pragmatic defence that it is a step back to get a better run at the issue later makes poor legacy material.

Link:
Obamas retreat on immigration reform

Immigration Reform Economic Growth

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Immigration Reform & Economic Growth - Video

Obama delays immigration reform plan;
US President Barack Obama has abandoned a plan to force through immigration reform before the end of the summer. In June, he promised to use executive orders that were expected to change visa...

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Obama delays immigration reform plan; - Video