Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. "pushing Obama to keep (immigration reform) promises".

[pampango]

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_17916025?nclick_check=1

Reflecting growing liberal frustration with President Barack Obama's lack of progress on immigration reform, a Democratic congressman from his home state of Illinois is barnstorming through the Bay Area this week to demand the administration slow down its record-high number of deportations.

"He's our champion," said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who lands in the Bay Area on Tuesday. "He's the one we want to support. But there's a community of people he made a promise and commitment to, and we want him to keep it." Obama continues to get high popularity ratings from Latinos and most immigrant groups, but Gutierrez is among a growing chorus of immigrant advocates who have expressed waning enthusiasm as the president launches his re-election campaign.

With little chance of immigrant-friendly legislation getting through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Gutierrez said Obama should use his executive power to provide the relief he promised immigrant families during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The Obama administration deported a record-high 392,862 illegal immigrants in the 2010 fiscal year, and another 387,790, the previous record, in 2009. Gutierrez acknowledges that Obama lent his support to immigration legislation last year, especially the Dream Act, but said he "could have made it a bigger priority." Now, he said, "That happened. It's history," and the only possible relief to many immigrant families is direct action from the president.