Latinos in Lexington React To Obama’s Immigration Order
"It lifted a burden off of my shoulders," Lexington resident Pavel Romero Castillo said.
That burden was lifted off some five million immigrants on Thursday as President Barack Obama announced a sweeping executive order to overhaul the immigration system.
"Today our immigration system is broken and everybody knows it," Obama said during the speech on Thursday. "It’s been this way for decades and for decades we haven’t done much about it."
Obama’s plan instructs immigration authorities to target undocumented immigrants who are dangerous rather than law-abiding undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents.
Martinez is the owner for LatinLex lounge, a place for the Latino community in Lexington to hang out, get the local news and help the community. All with no questions asked.
"We’re trying to get the information out there,” Matrtinez said. “A lot of people live in the shadows, so we try to get the information to them.”
But Martinez said there is a great sense of joy, but also some disappointment among people in the community.
"It’s not an amnesty, it’s not even an immigration reform,” Martinez said. “It’s just a band-aid to a bigger wound."
Those five million will be eligible for legal status and work permits if they have been in the United States for more than five years and have no criminal records.
"If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up," Obama said.
But for some people, this executive action isn’t enough.
"You wish it was a little broader, but it’s not,” said Hugo Velasquez. “You know you have a smile on your face but your friends that don’t have that smile."
"Democrats and republicans alike, they’re both playing political games,” Martinez said. “They’re gambling with our lives [and] the lives of other people while they’re playing who [has] got the bigger stick."
Republicans are in uproar about Obama’s use of executive authority and defying Congress.
"We’ll I’m worried about it because he is inserting power that he doesn’t have,” Senator Rand Paul said in Lexington Friday. “The Constitution intended that congress would write the laws. Now we have the president writing the laws.”
“I think we should challenge him and I would like to see this heard by the Supreme Court," Paul said.
During the announcement Thursday evening, Obama said, "To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill."
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