Obama won the Presidential elections in 2008 with almost two-thirds of Latino support but off late, that support has turned into a feeling of betrayal and disappointment.
According to Sarahi Uribe, coordinator of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, who sums the Latino sentiment over the past years in saying, “The president ran on a platform of immigration reform, but what we’ve seen is that he’s actually leaving behind a legacy of deportation and criminalization.”
With Latino voters losing faith in the President, a recent Gallup poll shows that his support has fallen sharply to 48 percent, and which can be attributed to several issues that the Latino community has had to deal with during his Presidency.
For one, almost 195000 Latinos have been deported (almost half of the total deportations made in year) despite committing minor offenses and traffic violations, thanks to a program called “Secure Communities” which allows local police to check the immigration status of individuals that they arrest.
If that’s not enough, the President admits that he cannot pass immigration reform or the DREAM Act on his own, much to the chagrin of the Latino community. However, the Obama administration is trying to win back the confidence of the Latinos by contesting the tough immigration laws passed in Arizona and Alabama while being on verge on doing the same on laws passed in Utah, Indiana, Georgia and South Carolina.
While the President won’t have to worry about Latinos changing sides with the Republicans taking a tougher stance on immigration, what Obama will have to consider is the possibility of the community not voting at all.