Mediaboss Marketing

President Barack Obama stepped back to give Republicans room to pass immigration reform and in swooped the impatience of youth.

Young immigrants, many not here legally, have ramped up their demand that Obama grab what he can now by using his executive authority to suspend deportations and worry later about winning over Republicans to sweeping reforms.

These young immigrants have been dogging Obama for years and got a taste of victory when, before the November 2012 elections, Obama suspended deportations temporarily for young immigrants. That didnt make them go away.

They are back for more and are joined by more established groups, including the National Council of La Raza, who are increasingly saying its time to shift strategies on immigration reform, after more than a decade of no results on comprehensive legislation.

He (Obama) decided to make enforcement a big issue. He thought he was going to be able to change Republicans' minds. It hasnt worked. Republicans hate him and we still dont have comprehensive immigration reform, said Erika Andiola, co-director of the DREAM Action Coalition.

This past weekend a coalition that included the young DREAMers marched to a park near the White House. Other rallies and marches took place in other cities in protest of an estimated 2 million deportations during Obama's presidency.

He (Obama) decided to make enforcement a big issue. He thought he was going to be able to change Republicans' minds. It hasnt worked. Republicans hate him and we still dont have comprehensive immigration reform."

Are these young immigrants the latest voices of conscience for Obama and the country, much like the black youth who sat at whites-only lunch counters or the anti-Vietnam War protestors on college campuses? Or are they impulsive idealists who fail to understand that politics is about give and take and timing?

There was some feeling that the young immigrants were ungrateful when the clash escalated last month. Thats when the president of NCLR called Obama deporter in chief and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus considered issuing a resolution demanding the president expand deportation deferrals he authorized for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants here illegally, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Is DACA nothing? California Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra said at the time. I would talk to the hundreds of thousands of families who today are not in fear, not having their young man or woman, son or daughter deported as a result of DACA. Thats not nothing.

Read the original here:

Young Immigrants: Impulsive or Obama's Conscience?