Dear Mr. President,
In the past two weeks alone, the conservative groups and media have been very busy, unlike Democrats, in spinning tales about why executive action on the immigration front will not work.
Friday, Aug. 15, Heritage.org released a piece under the headline, “Administrative Amnesty: Unjust, Costly, and an Incentive for More Illegal Immigration,” while the New Republic ran a headline stating, “Obama’s Executive Power Isn’t What He Thinks It Is.” These are just two of the pieces coming out of the right.
Meanwhile, the left’s response has been to simply say, according to Politico, “Democrats to White House: Immigration’s your call.”
This is not surprising, as the left always lags behind the right in telling its story or getting its message across. It’s a major flaw of Democrats—or maybe they have no real “squealers” in their camps to spin their messages or maybe there are more squealers on the right. Whatever the case, the reality is that Americans want something done now on immigration and fast—as in the next four months!
A Fox News poll found that 65 percent of voters prefer legislation that only focuses on creating a pathway for certain undocumented immigrants over no congressional action at all. There’s even bipartisan agreement on the issue. Seventy-six percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans, the poll found, say something is better than nothing on immigration reform, while 60 percent of independents agree.
That’s three times the 20 percent who would prefer Congress “do nothing at all” over only dealing with the undocumented immigrants already here.
Mr. President, it’s time to listen to the majority of Americans on this issue. Since Congress won’t act, it’s time that you do something within the scope of the executive powers handed to you by the American people. Time is running out on 2014 and on your tenure as president. Let’s make immigration relief happen now for the millions in need of it, not later!
Respectfully,
Felicia Persaud
The writer is CMO of Hard Beat Communications, which owns the brands News Americas Now, CaribPR Wire and Invest Caribbean Now.