COMMENTARY | Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are hoping their newest promises to Hispanic immigrants will edge them ahead in the impending presidential race. Good luck with that.
Obama enacted an executive order blocking deportations of children of illegal immigrants, effective for two years. Romney said he would replace the order with a long-term solution that would supersede Obama's and focus on a long-term solution that would delineate a path to legal status, revise temporary worker status and finish a high-tech fence along the Mexican border.
From a Hispanic's perspective, and having spent a good deal of my 40 years in immigrant-dense cities such as New York, Miami, San Francisco and Phoenix, Obama and Romney's proposals are not swaying my vote.
Neither is proposing solid solutions to resolve illegal immigration. Granting temporary stay to young illegals that have clean records and military service isn't bad, but it's certainly no long-term solution.
Even more disheartening is Obama's immigration order is an obvious political ploy. The president has had more than three years to fulfill his campaign promise of implementing new immigration policies. To date, his only effort has been the Dream Act, which Congress blocked on the grounds that it was simple amnesty. Obama did not offer any other immigration overhaul plans and placed the blame squarely on Congress.
So will this ploy for Hispanic voters work? It won't because immigration isn't a top priority for voters. The Pew Research Center lists illegal immigration as priority No. 16, with the economy, jobs and deficit ranking in the top three. Romney still offers the best proposals on those top three voter priorities.
Rest assured, if the economy doesn't pick up soon, we won't have much of an immigration issue.
