The number of deportations during the Obama administration is something that has very much flown under the radar as far as mainstream media coverage goes. It's a shocking policy that unfortunately fits the Obama Administration's attempts at political calculus on a variety of issues. The idea seems to be that if they embrace a conservative policy (mass deportations, or cutting deficits), they believe it gives them room to move in the other direction and pursue more liberal policy goals (comprehensive immigration reform, increasing spending on infrastructure, etc.).
This strategy is frustrating for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they are playing a game that no one else has agreed to play in a world that doesn't exist. If they deport 400,000 people a year, the Republicans will demand you deport 500,000. It does not increase the ability to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the slightest and the only thing you will have accomplished is ruining the lives of many hardworking people who have done nothing wrong.
To learn more about the immigration policies under Obama, watch this really incredible episode of Frontline, and judge it for yourself. When issues like this don't get enough coverage (admittedly, they haven't gotten enough coverage here either), it's worth doing your part to educate yourself on what's going on.
Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
My school met the writer and director of this film and watched it as a class. Very powerful, a MUST SEE for all.
ReplyDelete