In an attempt to portray himself in a favorable light as he
announced his candidacy in 2012, President Barack Obama claimed in a
recent interview that undocumented students are not being targeted
for deportation. However, at a town hall meeting in Denver just a few
days later, Obama was shown a video in which Karen Maldonado, a high
school student, held up the deportation notice she was issued and
confronted the president about his hypocrisy.
After the event, Maldonado said, “The president kept going in
circles. … He gives us hope but is not doing
anything about it.” (Denver Post, April 10)
In a 50 percent increase over the last year of the Bush
administration, 397,790 people were deported in just the first year
of Obama’s presidency.
The threat of deportation is used as
leverage by the capitalist class in order to super-exploit
undocumented workers. All poor and working people need to unite and
struggle for amnesty and full rights for immigrants.
