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Concern on the left over Munoz’s role intensified in late October after she appeared in “Lost in Detention,” a documentary on the PBS show “Frontline” that examined the treatment of detainees held at Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails and that featured accounts of Latino immigrant families separated after mothers or fathers were deported.
(Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated Press) - Cecilia Munoz, President Obama’s director of intergovernmental affairs, has emerged as a key defender of the administration’s policies on immigration.
The report echoed the concerns that many activists have voiced for years over a federal program called Secure Communities, in which people charged with state and local criminal violations are also checked for immigration status. Critics say many minor offenders are being detained and deported.
In a combative interview with journalist Maria Hinojosa, Munoz defended the administration’s actions, pointing to policy changes in recent months designed to prioritize deporting criminals and playing down the more sympathetic cases.
Asked to reconcile her advocacy background with the record of the administration she serves, Munoz responded, “We each have our responsibilities in this arena, and it’s important that everybody do their job wisely and well.”
Critics have homed in on Munoz’s assertions that more than half of those deported in the past year were criminals and that the government is focused on those who commit “serious crimes.” She and other administration officials say that the vast majority of deportees fell into high-priority categories.
But only about 75,000 of those deported — less than 20 percent — fit into the administration’s top priority tier, according to government data, meaning that they had been convicted of at least one aggravated felony such as murder or rape, or two felonies. Another 46,000 fit into the second tier, meaning that they had been convicted of a single felony or three or more misdemeanors.
All told, government data show that about 90 percent of deportees fit into the wider range of priority categories, including the recent border crossers and those who had been deported before, among others.
The Presente petition argues that a large share “of the ‘criminals’ [are] being deported for non-violent offenses.”
‘She should take a stand’
Hispanic organization leaders and immigrant advocates are debating the pluses and minuses of having their former colleague on the inside.
Some activists believe that Munoz feels conflicted. Gaby Pacheco, 26, who joined other undocumented young immigrants last year in a protest walk from Miami to Washington, said Munoz broke down in tears during a meeting with the group. Nevertheless, Pacheco said, she defended Obama.
“She should take a stand against what is happening,” Pacheco said. “It really pained me to hear her say that all this is just collateral damage.”
Janet Murguia, president of Munoz’s former employer, the National Council of La Raza, said she believes that her former colleague is probably staying true to her core views — even if her job requires a different public role.
“In some instances, she’s going to have to toe the company line,” Murguia said. “But that doesn’t mean that behind the scenes she’s not trying to advocate for the best possible reforms.”
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, described Munoz as “working really, really hard to try to change things” but added that “the results aren’t showing up.”
Obama won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in 2008 after pledging to make overhauling the immigration system a top priority. Several recent polls show that his approval ratings among Hispanics remain higher than among the overall population, but they are far lower than the share that many Democratic strategists believe he will need to secure reelection.
At the same time, party strategists believe that a record of strong border enforcement plays well with white independent voters, and Obama this year appeared at the border in El Paso for a speech claiming credit for a strong enforcement policy.
From the right, many Republicans have charged that the administration has failed to fully secure the border.
“Our policies have been simultaneously described as engaging in a mean-spirited effort to blindly deport record numbers of illegal immigrants from the country and alternatively as comprehensive amnesty that ignores our responsibility to enforce the immigration laws,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a recent speech. She added, “Two opposites can’t simultaneously be true.”
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