This month, polls are showing a decrease in President Obama’s popularity among Latinos in the United States. Some say that the numbers reflect growing frustration over Obama’s inaction on immigration reform.
“You have large segments of the Latino population who have as their number one legislative priority immigration reform,” said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio. “The bottom line is that they haven’t seen evidence of the legislation being moved in congress.”
At the end of April, amidst widespread criticism of Arizona SB 1070, Obama announced that he was dropping immigration reform from his administration’s agenda this year.
A May 1st immigration rights rally (Photo Credit: National Immigration Forum)
However, controversy surrounding legislation like SB 1070 has provided an important catalyst for grassroots mobilization pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. It’s a critical time to keep the pressure on Obama and on our Congressional representatives. And based on the polls, Obama will have incentive to pay attention.