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 "If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours," he
declared. "I expect ... recommendations before the end of summer and
I intend to adopt those recommendations without further delay."
Fast forward nine weeks and both the deadline and the wisdom of
setting it are in doubt. Obama's Democrats risk losing control of
the U.S. Senate in Nov. 4 elections and, for many struggling
incumbents, a policy shift on a hot-button issue in the middle of
their campaigns looks unwelcome.
So the White House, having touted its deadline for weeks, has turned
noncommittal on the timing of an immigration announcement, creating
the impression of disarray on a top domestic policy priority.
"There is the chance that it could be before the end of the summer,
there is the chance that it could be after the summer," spokesman
Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
Some 11 million immigrants, most of them Hispanics, live in the
United States illegally. Their status is a controversial topic for
voters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found that 70 percent of
Americans believed the immigrants threatened the country's beliefs
and 63 percent that they burdened the economy.
Republicans, who already control the House of Representatives, have
seized on the issue to bash vulnerable Democratic senators. In New
Hampshire the issue helped Republican Scott Brown erode the lead of
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
This has left immigration rights advocates and others close to the
White House wondering whether the administration thought through the
politics at all.
STAYING HOME
White House officials calculated earlier this summer that
immigration would not play a major role in the elections, except
perhaps for the sizable Hispanic population in Colorado, where
executive action could boost Democratic Senator Mark Udall.
Now other Democratic candidates in tough Senate races are asking the
White House to delay.
But immigration rights advocates, wary of what they see as another
broken-promise-in-the-making, say waiting carries risks as well.
They warn that Hispanics could stay away from the polls in protest
if Obama postpones a decision.
"If he doesn't follow through on his promise to take action by the
end of the summer, it will make it harder for the people who are
knocking on doors in the Latino community to mobilize voters," said
Frank Sharry, executive director of the America's Voice advocacy
group.
Lorella Praeli, director of advocacy and policy at immigrant youth
organization United We Dream, said civil disobedience and an
aggressive media strategy with Latinos would increase in the event
of a delay.
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PROS AND CONS
Obama must weigh the drawbacks of losing support in Latino-heavy
states such as Colorado against the risk of energizing right-leaning
Republican voters in states such as Alaska, North Carolina,
Louisiana, Kentucky, and New Hampshire.
A surge of some 60,000 children crossing the border from Central
America to the United States has complicated the debate. Obama
pledged to send the migrant children home, an approach that advocacy
groups see as overly harsh.
He sought to soothe anger over that policy with his promise to use
executive measures to ease deportations of undocumented immigrants
who have already lived in the United States a long time. Among the
reforms his administration is considering are granting work permits
and temporary relief from deportation to as many as five million
undocumented immigrants.
Other issues could factor into a delay of that decision.
A House Democratic aide said Obama likely was "tamping down
expectations" of an imminent announcement to ease tensions that
might stand in the way of Congress passing a spending bill in
September to keep the government running.
Republican efforts to undermine Obama's signature healthcare
initiative led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government last
year.
All of this raises the question of why Obama set a deadline in the
first place.
"I wish I knew," said Angela Kelley, an immigration specialist at
the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, adding the White
House would have to explain its thinking if it decided on a delay.
"I don't know what their plan is, but they sure better have one."
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Roberta Rampton; Editing
by Howard Goller)
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