A Latino Voters'
Declaration of Independence
from the Democratic Party in the U.S.
By Armando Vazquez-Ramos (September 15, 2014)
Coinciding with Father Miguel Hidalgo's El Grito de Dolores on September 15, 1810, to foment an end to slavery after almost 300 years of Spanish rule, I humbly declare today my independence from the Democratic Party and call upon all Latino voters in the U.S. to do the same, throughout the farcical "Hispanic Heritage Month" celebration that begins today.
With President Obama's latest broken promise to protect by executive action the 11 million immigrants in political limbo, today I declare that I have decided to quit the Democratic Party and call upon all Latino voters to rebel, by changing their registration to 'independent' because there is no political party that deserves our vote, or truly represents the interests of our families and children.
We should celebrate "Hispanic Heritage Month" by voting on November 4th as independent voters for "No executive action, no vote!" across the U.S., to deliver the message that Obama must exercise by Thanksgiving his executive authority through deferred action, and grant administrative relief to all eligible 11 million immigrants without a criminal record.
His deportation regime represents a form of genocide of more than 2 million Latino immigrant families. Latinos were 96% of those deported, which is inherently a form of racialized and discriminatory law enforcement that should be prosecuted as a criminal case in an international court, and litigated as a massive violation of U.S. citizens children's rights in the United Nations and U.S. courts.
To wit, as a result of Obama' Deporter-in-Chief legacy, there are over 500,000 U.S.-born children of Mexican parents deported, now exiled in Mexico, and whose constitutional, human and children's rights have been violated. They should be given safe return to their country of birth, along with their parents and nuclear family.
Ironically, Obama's legacy will be judged in history by this familicide, in contradiction with Obama's unjustified and undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.
In my opinion, when president Obama finally announced his decision to deny again his promise to protect the 11 million unauthorized immigrants that contribute to our economy with their hard work, he lost his last chance to energize Latino voters and the Democratic Party's base. He did so not only for the November elections, he also jeopardized the 2016 presidential election.
Surely, Latino voters will be cuddled by the Dems to vote the GOP out of Congress and to elect Hillary in 2016, as our duty and allegiance to the party. But for what benefit and how can we trust them when Obama's persuasive appeal is exhausted, unconvincing and bankrupt.
Conclusively, President Obama and the Democratic Party's leadership cannot be trusted on immigration before or after the elections this year. They will continue to punt with the justification that we must wait until after the 2016 election, due to congressional gridlock and the GOP's threat of impeachment and lawsuits against the president.
Notwithstanding that Obama's deportations will continue at record-pace, as he becomes the longest serving lame duck president in the history of the U.S. covering his last 2 years in office after the November 4 election.
The president and the Democratic Party's leadership led us down the path of deception and without consultation dictated to Latinos to accept the nefarious S.744 legislation produced by the Senate's "Gang of 8," despite the fact that it would deport half or more of the 11 million undocumented, while militarizing the border with a $56 billion boondoggle.
As Geronimo would say, Obama and the Democratic Party leadership "speak forked tongue." Now there is no doubt that they are a part of the problem. Obama is a president that does not respect even his own Democrat members of Congress, much less Latino voters. Blatantly disrespectful, he never replied to the appeal letters for immigrants' legislative relief sent by Congressmembers Raul Grijalva and Yvette Clarke on December 5, 2013 and January 24, 2014, and signed by 40+ Democrat members of the U.S. Congress.
Regardless of the November election results, Obama must deliver on his word before the end of the year. He must change his legacy from Deporter- to the Emancipator-in-Chief and do what is right for the economy and future generations of new American immigrants that will be more than 30% of the U.S. population by 2050.
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Armando Vazquez-Ramos teaches Chicano and Latino Studies in the California State University system, and is an Area Coordinator for the Protect Our Families and Save the Children Campaign in Los Angeles, CA. He can be reached at [email protected].
