President Barack Obama has been petitioned by Hispanic immigrants who want his administration to put an end to the deportation of undocumented immigrants, with almost two million people having been deported in his time in the White House. The complaints from Latinos are being focused on by Democrats, who worry that the turnout for the midterm elections could be dramatically affected by the growing anger that Hispanic voters are feeling toward the current administration.
President Obama says that his intention has always been to assist undocumented immigrants to get on a path to US citizenship and to stop the separation of families due to deportations, and he has discussed his policies with immigration advocates recently. The President has since pledged to change the enforcement of immigration laws but the only real method of addressing such issues and fixing the amount of deportations is to enact a new immigration system.
Some activists agree that legislation is needed to fix the current system, with leaders of organizations such as the Center for Community Change and youth group United We Dream telling Obama that they will not stop fighting to end deportations until more action is taken to protect immigrants in the United States.
The issue has stalled in the House of Representatives due to lack of support from the Republican Party, but Republicans have warned Obama against taking steps of his own to deal with the issue, and that reform should only be enacted as a democratic process.