Why Obama Can't End the Raids

Ever since Barack Obama won the presidential election with substantial Latino support, Hispanic organizations around the country have been demanding an immediate moratorium on immigration raids that have torn families apart.

But without any action two months into Obama's administration -- except for yet another raid in Bellingham, Wash., late in February -- nearly 500 activists planned a demonstration in front of the Department of Homeland Security on March 23. In response, the Department's newly appointed deputy assistant secretary for policy, Esther Olavarria, met with the organizers the day before, a Sunday, and the protest never took place.

Anyone thinking that the activists got what they came for, rendering the march unnecessary, should think again. In fact, just two days earlier, on Univision, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano publicly rejected the idea of stopping the raids.

"I am not a big believer in moratoriums," she said. "But we can make sure that we are careful in the way we do our job."

The second part of her statement helps explain why the demonstration never took place. The Obama administration has no plans to stop enforcing the law against hiring undocumented immigrants. But it is giving clear indication that it plans to enforce it differently.

According to several participants at the meeting, Olaverria assured them future raids will be triggered by different criteria. They will target "bad employers" rather than workers, said Marissa Graciosa, the immigration campaign coordinator for the Center for Community Change in Washington, and will redirect resources to crack down on more serious crimes such as human trafficking.

As expected, the changing nature of the raids is raising red flags among the most passionate anti-illegal immigrant activists who accuse the administration of secretly changing immigrant policy. "Just as those who sneak across borders do so stealthily, the Obama administration may change America's immigration policies quietly but significantly," former Republican Rep. Ernest Istook, now with the Heritage Foundation, wrote in an opinion column.

But the administration's plans aren't exactly quiet. Obama has publicly stated that he would do what he can through the executive branch to start reforming the broken immigration system. Moreover, the administration is now openly seeking to reshape the Department of Homeland Security's core mission in profound ways.

This week, Obama announced a comprehensive strategy against Mexican organized crime "to make sure that illegal guns and cash aren't flowing back to (Mexican) cartels." At the plan's unveiling, Napolitano explained that millions of dollars and hundreds of officials from Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will be reassigned to bolster U.S. efforts against drug and gun traffickers as well as money launderers that feed the violence south of the border.

For now, Napolitano is not requesting new funds and says that she has identified other areas within her department from which she is drawing the necessary personnel and financial resources. She is providing no details that could show whether this reallocation of resources will have any direct impact on resources needed to carry out raids.

One can safely assume, however, that changing priorities are going to affect the nature of the raids, which in recent years have put Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency in charge, on the defensive. Going after meatpackers or dishwashers will likely no longer be as important as targeting drug dealers and money launders. Raids directed at uprooting criminal infrastructure that facilitates illegal immigration, such as human smuggling and false document rings, would too be more appropriate responses to the new anti-organized crime objective.

Already, serious criticism has been levied against ICE for being out of sync with Homeland Security's mission. According to a report released last month by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, co-authored by Doris Meissner, the former immigration commissioner, Immigration and Customs Enforcement "has expansively applied a national security paradigm to unlikely security risks."

The report questioned how, for instance, Guatemalan women making backpacks for the U.S. military and picked up in a raid, could pose any significant threat to U.S. security. Furthermore, the report highlights that ICE has sought to link illegal workers to the criminal infrastructure, "characterizing the mere use of false documents as identity theft or aggravated identity theft."

On May 1, two days after Obama completes his first 100 days in office, Latinos throughout the country plan to march again. The tone of the marches may turn out to be celebratory, said Graciosa, if in fact the nature of the raids appears to be changing. It will also reflect how much Latinos feel their support for Obama was warranted.