Abcarian: In that racist leaked recording, L.A. sees its true reflection — and it’s ugly.
A few weeks ago, in a moment of frustration, I emailed President Obama, asking why he, despite having just fought — and won — a national election, does not do more to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants.
His response: He will fight it “all the way,” as he told the nation in his victory speech.
I disagreed with this response because it is not the job of the president to be a guardian of U.S. immigration policy. The president’s job is to be president, and to uphold and enforce the laws of the land.
I also disagreed with his position because I do not feel it is true. In truth, Obama has not addressed a single one of the many causes I have listed — many of which are so basic to our nation that they ought to be obvious to anyone who claims to act in America’s interest.
A few examples.
1. He has not taken on the racist elements of his own administration. On the day I contacted him about this, he was meeting with community leaders and discussing, by name, his plans for a sweeping anti-crime initiative.
2. According to documents leaked to The Guardian, Obama’s Justice Department was involved in secret talks with the federal government of Turkey about whether to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of Muslims from America. In fact, the documents suggest the Justice Department wanted to deport some 20,000 refugees from the U.S. in order to deter Syrian refugees from entering, and it was working with Turkish officials in a plan to deport Muslim refugees into countries that have no laws against Muslims immigrating to the U.S.
3. Obama refused to say a word about the ongoing crisis of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., and has not said a word about it since he began his campaign.
4. He has not said a single thing about the fact that as a candidate, he promised to crack down on the deportation of people here illegally and then, in his first week of office, after a speech praising the DREAM Act for helping to “break the back” of illegal immigration, he announced the DREAM Act would