Latinos still waiting for a Superman on immigration

In these moments of fear and uncertainty, we search for protection, refuge, a leader — or maybe even, I dare say, a Superman.

Many are asking why former President Barack Obama has remained largely silent. Others, more critical, suggest he shares some of the blame.

Let me be clear: I believe he does.

But so does the Democratic Party.

If Democrats emerge from this moment without a bold, actionable policy agenda on immigration — one they’re willing to “die on their sword” for — they risk further eroding the trust of Latino communities. This is not just a political liability. It’s a moral failure.

I believed in Obama’s message of hope and change. I voted for him twice. But while Democrats distinguish themselves rhetorically on immigration, the gap in actual policy outcomes has often been disappointingly narrow. Inaction may feel better than aggressive enforcement, but it is hardly a position worth defending.

It’s no surprise, then, that more Latinos supported Trump in 2024 than in his previous campaigns. Many political scientists, myself included, have spent months trying to understand this shift. Among the issues that mattered most to these voters — ironically — was immigration enforcement. Some of them benefited from President Reagan’s 1986 amnesty law and have since adopted a hardline stance, lecturing newer arrivals on the importance of “doing it the right way.”

So, let’s ask the harder question: what could Obama and the Democratic Party have done differently?

Judging by their record — sadly, not much. And that’s precisely the problem.

In 2021, on her first trip to Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris told Guatemalans: “Do not come.” She warned they would be turned back at the border, even though they have a legal right to seek asylum under international law.

In 2014, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded to the child migrant crisis with a chilling declaration: “We have to send a clear message: Just because your child gets across the border doesn’t mean your child gets to stay.” Many saw it as the end of asylum as we knew it.

President Obama, for all the credit he deserves for creating DACA, also earned the nickname “Deporter-in-Chief” for a reason. As my University of San Francisco colleague Bill Ong Hing has argued, Obama’s policies inflicted “unnecessary hardship and trauma” on migrants fleeing violence, particularly women and children from Central America.

I continue to vote Democrat — not out of enthusiasm, but out of obligation. And more recently, out of fear.

But fear is not a strategy. And Obama, for all his rhetorical brilliance, was not the Superman this moment required.

Latino communities — especially immigrants and recent arrivals — need more than inspirational speeches. They need protection. They need policy. They need action.

Immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship, must be a nonnegotiable priority for Democrats. Not a “someday” agenda item. Not a bargaining chip. A must-have.

Executive action is necessary. And yes, it is possible. I still remember the moment an immigrant rights activist stood up and asked President Obama to take executive action on immigration. He responded with a lecture on why it wasn’t plausible. Again — inaction.

And now, as fear becomes normalized and the dust settles, many Latinos may conclude that the Democratic Party is not where they’ll find their Superman.

If Democrats want to keep their base, they need to earn it — not with words, but with action.

Marco Durazo, Ph.D., lives in San Bruno and teaches politics at USF.