Obama Uses Speech to Latino Group to Pander for Votes, Fails to Justify Unauthorized Amnesty to the American People, Says FAIR

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) issued the following statement in response to President Obama's speech today to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO):

"In his speech today before NALEO, the President of the United States failed to advance the national understanding of today's immigration crisis. He continued his plan to use immigration policy as a wedge issue in his re-election campaign. 

"Mr. Obama could have used the forum as an opportunity to explain the constitutionality and legality of his implementation of the DREAM Act amnesty without congressional approval. He could have explained his plan to restore the rule of law in immigration matters. He could have provided meaningful guidance for how the national government could assure the terms of immigration law are complied with, and provide a thorough-going discussion of how immigration can once again be serviceable to the national need.

"Instead, the entire amnesty discussion was a cynical effort to divide the nation along ethnic lines – to try to convince, in the most condescending manner, a Latino voting bloc that it should remain loyal to the Democratic Party because it could deliver higher level of immigration and a rolling amnesty for law breakers.

"Immigration policy debate is now deadlocked because an 'elite governing coalition' has no interest in responsible reforms – reforms that will give assurances that once again the American people, through Congress and it's enacted laws – will be the ones who decide who gets to come here. The President – in a staggering series of irresponsible statements and actions – is making it quite clear he has no interest in ensuring the nation's immigration laws are ever respected again," Stein concluded.

About FAIR
Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group.  With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests.  FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced. Visit FAIR's website at www.fairus.org.

SOURCE FAIR