National Council Of La Raza President To Take Hard Line Against 'Deporter-In-Chief' Obama

The Obama administration’s last bulwark of support among Latino and immigrant-advocacy groups is tired of playing the apologists. Politico reports that in a speech given at an awards dinner hosted by the National Council of La Raza, the country’s biggest Latino advocacy group, NCLR President Janet Murguía will break with Obama in insisting that the president can -- and should -- put a halt to deportations until a comprehensive legislation reform of the nation’s immigration system is passed. Obama has said repeatedly that he does not have the legal authority to do so.

"We respectfully disagree with the president on his ability to stop unnecessary deportations. He can stop tearing families apart,” Murguía will say, according to CBS News, which obtained an advance copy of the text of her speech. “He can stop throwing communities and businesses into chaos. He can stop turning a blind eye to the harm being done. He does have the power to stop this. Failure to act will be shameful legacy for this his presidency.”

Obama has pointed to the legislative path as the only possibility for reform. But immigrant-advocacy and Latino groups, convinced that House Republicans will continue to block the passage of immigration reform, have set their sights on the president. Politico reported in late February that the NCLR and another liberal group which works on immigration issues, the Center for American Progress, were the last two standing in holding the administration’s line -- a stance which earned them the perception of being “apologists,” according to Chris Newman, the legal director of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Murguía seemed to indicate that the group’s distaste for the administration’s deportation policy may have been privately felt. “For the president, I think his legacy is at stake here,” she said. “We consider him the deportation president, or the deporter-in-chief.”