JU HONG, third from top left, interrupts President Barack Obama’s speech about immigration reform on Monday, Nov. 25, at the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center in San Francisco. AP
On the Friday before Thanksgiving week, I received a call from a woman community leader in San Francisco asking me if I was interested in being in a panel to discuss various immigration issues of the Filipino-American community. I readily said “absolutely!” When I was told it was to be on Nov. 25, the day of American president Barack Obama’s San Francisco visit, I became doubly excited.
Later, I found out the format was changed, the panel discussion was scrapped, and it would just be President Obama speaking directly to the crowd. Geez, and I thought it was to be my moment to have an audience with the Commander in Chief of the United States.
However, I was told that I could still attend the event at the Betty Ong Recreational Center in Chinatown. Ready to see President Obama, I went to Sunday mass and then proceeded to get my ticket to allow me to attend the event.
It was unusually cold in San Francisco that day. I arrived early to find hundreds of people already lined up outside the center. One of the volunteer-ushers approached the line and asked if anyone wanted a ‘sticker’ to be on the bleachers behind the President while he was speaking. Well, why not? I took the sticker, together with the young students standing ahead of me in line.
After an hour or so, we were finally allowed in and escorted to the bleachers. The Betty Ong Recreational Center had a big gym. The bleachers were for watching sporting events but the place was redesigned for that special day so the President would be standing right in front of the people. I found a place at the very top of the bleachers, right behind a huge American Flag.
Seated, I started to make friends with those seated around me. On my right was Rey, a retired San Francisco employee; Aparna on my left, a young graduate working in Oakland, California; and in front of me, six young students. I asked the students which group they belonged to and they said they were all members of an organization called ASPIRE, an advocacy group of young undocumented immigrants.
After 30 minutes of waiting, the President of the United States of America finally arrived at noon.
“Hello, everybody!” greeted the President. My eyes were wide open with anticipation. I smiled as I waved my hands to welcome the President and he waved back to us who were at the bleachers. Wow, I was in close proximity with the Leader of the Free World. Now, I get to listen to his views on immigration reform. I expected him to give us an update on how the immigration reform bill was progressing in the US Congress and to encourage us help him persuade our legislators to favorably act on the matter. San Francisco is an immigration-friendly city and our representatives, notably former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is already a supporter of immigration reform. So what else is he going to speak to us about?
What he said
President Obama’s immigration speech reiterated what he had already said in many of his public speeches: “it is long past time to reform an immigration system that right now doesn’t serve America as well as it should.” He emphasized the benefits of passing an immigration reform bill by recognizing achievements of immigrants and their contributions to the US economy.
As I expected, he mentioned the barrier to the passage of the bill: “the only thing standing in our way right now is the unwillingness of certain Republicans in Congress to catch up with the rest of the country (on immigration reform).”
Unexpected hecklers
What I did not expect, however, is how this oft repeated speech, in this immigrant-friendly city, was received.
The President was heckled.
While intently listening to the President’s speech, the young immigrant standing in front of me started interrupting the President, yelling at the top of his voice, “Mr. President, I need your help. My family has been separated for 19 months now!”
Already in shock with what I was hearing from this young guy, suddenly all six students started chanting, “Stop deportations! Stop deportations!” This was literally happening under my nose.
The President paused, turned around and faced us, and said, “that exactly is what we’re talking about.”
It was as if he was engaging the young immigrants in a close conversation. The heckler, later identified as Ju Hong from South Korea, yelled back, “Mr. President, please use your executive order to halt deportations for all 11.5 undocumented immigrants in this country right now.”
President Obama responded, saying he did not have the power to stop deportations.
Secret service rush
Suddenly several men in black suits came rushing to the bleachers ready to arrest the six young immigrants. The Filipino, Emmanuel Valenciano, voluntarily submitted himself. I stood up but seemed to lose balance and felt the bleachers shaking. Or was I shaking because I was nervous about the commotion? What if they get arrested?
As they were about to take Valenciano and Hong, President Obama stopped his security men from bringing them out. He was calm in responding to them and said, “these guys don’t need to go. He can stay there (referring to Valenciano).”
I knew that if he were the other Chief Executive, these student advocates would have been arrested in an instance.
President Obama was applauded by the audience for keeping his cool and addressing the matter in the calm way that he did.
Presidential savvy
In responding to the ‘hecklers,’ President Obama categorically said he had no power to stop deportations, stressing the United States was a nation of law. But he has the responsibility of making sure that the laws are enforced. In recent years, President Obama exercised his executive authority to stay the enforcement of certain provisions of the immigration law: he did this for certain widows of US citizens, to the undocumented youth through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, and very recently, he granted parole to members of military families. The young immigrant had a point.
But I also believe that there is no chief executive who would choose to exercise his presidential authority for all 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in a blanket and all-encompassing way. Not only would it require a great deal of political capital, it would be viewed as a power grab, an encroachment on the other branches of government, a slap in the face of Congress. It would seem that President Obama is optimistic that the US Congress will eventually pass the immigration reform bill—without him having to take such drastic measures.
The heckler and me
After the speech and after President Obama left, my image was caught on television cameras, at times expressing disappointment, at times nodding at the points the hecklers were making. My friends asked me what I was thinking of and how I felt. I have no problem with the legitimacy of the message. The point was well taken. But I did not agree with the manner in which it was delivered. Maybe I am old-fashioned. I believe we should give the President some slack. Maybe President Obama deserved better.
(Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 7211963 or visit her website at www.tancinco.com)