President Barak Obama giving his fifth State of the Union address. Many criticized its lack of depth regarding the immigration system. Image taken from YouTube.
On January 28th as President Barak Obama gave his State of the Union address, Americans looked on with expectations. Hispanics in particular were looking forward to a definitive statement [1] [es] in regards to the broken immigration system. Last year the issue became laggard due to events that required greater priority, such as the government shutdown and the crisis in Syria.
On this occasion, Obama resumed the matter in a more succinct fashion. He insisted the lower house to approve an immigration reform that would allow the legalization of more than 11 million undocumented workers living in the United States. Independent economists agree with the president. They indicate that immigration reform would help the economic slump by reducing its deficit to almost $1,000 million in the next two weeks [2] [es]. The president added that many people “come here to make their dreams a reality (studying, inventing, and contributing to our culture). They make our country more attractive to businesses.
Nevertheless, the speech left pro-immigrant activists unsatisfied. In addition to Obama’s failure to provide any concrete solutions, they also asserted that the same rhetoric has been used for years. Examples of this can be seen on Twitter:
5 años de lo mismo: @lorellaluciana [3] critica discurso de #Obama [4] sobre #inmigración [5]http://t.co/NZLzTvCq1F#SOTU pic.twitter.com/6sCP0DMVC7 [6]— Democracy Now! Es (@DemocracyNowEs) January 29, 2014 [7]
5 years of the same thing:@lorellaluciana [3] criticizes #Obama [4] speech over [immigration] #inmigración [5]http://t.co/NZLzTvCq1F [8]#SOTU [9]pic.twitter.com/6sCP0DMVC7 [10]
Nos has hecho promesas! Firma la reforma de #inmigración [5], puede estar haciendo mucho más! #pplsSOTU [11]pic.twitter.com/2UzrOxflqO [12]— FLImmigrantCoalition (@FLImmigrant) January 29, 2014 [13]
You've made us promises! Sign the #inmigración [5] [immigration] reform, he can be doing much more!#pplsSOTU [11]pic.twitter.com/2UzrOxflqO [12]
Not surprising, @BarackObama [14] makes no reference to his record high #2million [15] deportations under his 5 years as president. #not1more [16]
— RI4A (@RI4A) January 29, 2014 [17]
MT @DRMAction [18]: @BarackObama [14] glossed over immigration during #SOTU [9], not mentioning deportations pic.twitter.com/NmHXJyafm4 [19]#not1more [16]#stopice [20]
— Detention Watch (@DetentionWatch) January 29, 2014 [21]
Well, at least Obama said that #ICE [22] would no longer detain pregnant women. Oh, wait. He didn't. #SOTU [9]
— DreamActivist (@DreamAct) January 29, 2014 [23]
The Republican response to Obama's speech in Spanish corresponded to representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [24]. She, along with the president, recognized the flaws within the immigration system. As a result, a sort of conclave amongst republicans has taken place in order to analyze the differing positions in regards to immigration reform. Some of their proposals have generated mixed opinions [25] [Es]. These include the possibility of legalizing the status of undocumented workers, nevertheless being incapable of obtaining citizenship.