First Lady Michelle Obama Questioned by Second-Grader Worried About Her Mom’s Immigration Status

[pampango]

Source: ABC News

A second-grader stole the show today, even as U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon held a press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House.

While the two Presidents spoke about the need for immigration reform and about concerns over Arizona's harsh new law – without saying anything new or different – down the road in Silver Spring, Maryland, First Lady Michele Obama and Mexico’s First Lady Margarita Zavala visited an elementary school to speak with a class of second graders.

ABC News’ Karen Travers reports what happened when a young girl spoke up:

The student shyly raised her hand and said, "My mom ... she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers."

Mrs. Obama replied: "Yeah, well that's something that we have to work on, right? To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right? That's exactly right."

The girl then said quietly, "But my mom doesn't have any ..." and trailed off.

Mrs. Obama replied: "Well, we have to work on that. We have to fix that, and everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that happens. That's right."

Watch the http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Girl-Outs-Mothers-Citizenship-Status-During-First-Ladys-School-Visit-94268584.html">video of the exchange:

Read more: http://americasvoiceonline.org/blog/entry/first_lady_michelle_obama_questioned_by_second-grader_worried_about_he/

[Jennicut]

1. Poor little girl. She did nothing wrong and I hope no one goes

after her family.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ebayfool]

16. Limbaugh was on about it today, so I'm pretty sure it'll ...

encourage some ass, some where, to make a point of targeting her & her family - in some way or another. He was raving @ despicable liberals using little kids to make political points (go figger!).

(And yes, I catch some of the spittle when driving to a certain customer's house. It's a sure heads up as to what the days arguements will be about! Since their talking points are pre-packaged & delivered by the bloviator, it allows me drive time to decide my counterpoints & rebuttals. Not that they listen much after repeating the days news according to rush & beck ... but I still try!)

[UndertheOcean]

3. Heartbreaking , hope the gestapo don't go after the mother now . n/t

[CLANG]

4. She should have replied: Only if you live in Arizona.

[tomm2thumbs]

5. +1 and soon to be Nebraska?

or so it sounds

[Unvanguard]

6. No more deportations. Not one more. n/t

[saracat]

7. Wow, that wasn't exactly encouraging was that? Michelle didn't take a side

What will that child think if her mother is deported?Michelle was in a tough spot but what she said isn't true.They aren't going to work together to find a solution. The GOP do NOT work with us.This is bipartisan bull crap.

[skyounkin]

8. Wow...

that is some amazing weak ass shit from the first lady!

"We have to work on....To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers."

Wow....WTF?

How about you go after the corporations that HIRE illegal immigrants? Do they have the right kind of papers?

I can't believe how much my respect for the first lady just dropped.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

15. Last I heard she's not the President..

[Javaman]

21. But the latest rumor is, she does sleep with him.

:rofl:

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. Give her a chance.

She can't promise anything on camera or get the little girl's hopes up. I hope somebody is quietly looking into it for her.

She can't step right into the middle of a fierce issue like that. It would drag the little girl and Mrs. Obama right into the spotlight for the next brazillion years. Unfortunately, somebody is probably already hard on the heels of that little girl's mother.

MO probably wanted to promise her right then and there she would take care of it. It probably broke her heart.

[skyounkin]

10. Fuck that!

I am fucking tired of this adminstration not taking a fucking stand!!

This is a bullshit issue and a horrid one at that- they need to say this law is beyond fucked up and we will do everything to stop it.

Instead we get bullshit and tri-angulation.

[customerserviceguy]

12. I am a bit surprised that she didn't immediately say

"No, Barack Obama doesn't want to do that, he is working to make sure that the people who do want to do that don't get to," or something of that nature.

[customerserviceguy]

11. I find it interesting

that somehow this wasn't picked up during pre-screening of the attendees at the First Lady's event. Or is this sort of like the Salahi thing, where there just isn't any effective screening?

[snooper2]

23. I doubt they run background checks on 2nd graders

:rofl:

[customerserviceguy]

24. Maybe they ought to

Just to avoid situations like what happened here.

[JI7]

26. i don't think Michelle wants to avoid this

[customerserviceguy]

27. She sure didn't sound comfortable about her answer

And she sure didn't defend her husband, either. She could have said, "President Obama does not want to deport your momma, he's working to keep that from happening, it's Republicans who want to do this to your mother." Or something like that.

[JI7]

28. yeah, it isn't comfortable for anyone, but that doesn't mean she wants to avoid

such situations.

[customerserviceguy]

29. Like most political figures

and, yes, I consider the First Lady to be such, they'd probably prefer that the questioner be a genuine journalist, rather than a seven year old kid too clueless not to rat out her mother.

That had to be damned awkward for Michelle, that's my only explanation as to why she didn't defend the President. If a reporter had phrased a question in the same way, she'd have been all down his/her throat.

[JI7]

30. she was talking to a little girl, trying to make her feel things will be ok

that was more important than defending the president. this wasn't a case where the president needed defending.

and Michelle usually doesn't defend him anyways including against some of the ugliest attacks. she knows what politics is and decided early she wouldn't get into that area of politics.

[customerserviceguy]

39. She could at least have tried to correct that child

by stating flatly that she and the President don't want to do that.

[Ter]

13. She just got her mom busted on national TV

Somehow I doubt the mother will get in any trouble though.

[pampango]

31. Conservative CIS agrees with you. Progressive Caucus Luis Gutierrez "I think it helps us immensely."

"The children have seen with their own eyes the deportation of parents," said Julia Aparicia, a native of El Salvador, who said she is a legal resident. She was picking up a 4-year-old girl she cares for. "That's the fear of the children. It's the fear of all of us."

New Hampshire Estates has a diverse population of 410 students from prekindergarten and Head Start through second grade. Two-thirds of the students are Hispanic, and about two-thirds of all students are learning English as a second language. Eighty-one percent of all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch."

"I think it helps us immensely," said U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill./Congressional Progressive Caucus), who has pushed for more protections for families of mixed status. "It really synthesizes in 20 words or less the need for comprehensive immigration reform." Gutierrez, who has called for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, said he would like to see a moratorium on deportation of parents of U.S. citizens. "Little girls in second grade should be worried about how many dolls they have or what song they're going to sing, not whether the government is going to deport their mom."

But Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration controls, said the girl's questions highlight the need for immigration reform that would reduce the number of mixed-status families by making it more difficult for the parents to live in the United States.

"If the parents had been unable to illegally settle here, then you wouldn't have this situation," he said, adding that the girl's exchange with Obama shows that undocumented immigrants live in the United States more openly than many people think. But the high-profile context of the girl's comments will make her family too well known to deport, Krikorian said. "This kid has basically guaranteed that her mother is not going to be deported under any circumstances."

[marshall]

14. Michelle should have mentioned Aunt Zeituni

She just got a stay from being deported, and now can stay close to nephew Barack and the grand nieces.

[Doremus]

25. Yes, after a 10-year process she has been allowed to stay.

Maybe you thought she just petitioned now that her nephew is Pres? Nope.

The Pres also didn't interfere in the process. Just in case you were wondering. :eyes:

[marshall]

37. Personal experiences make good talking points to children

I realize Aunt Zeituni has had a long road and had no help from her nephew, other than perhaps moral support from afar. But the fact is she made it through the golden arches, she is on the road to citizenship, and she did it all on her own. That is a feel good testament that any child can understand.

[Romulox]

34. So all this little girl needs to do is be related to the President? The system works! nt

[unkachuck]

17. "But my mom doesn't have any ..."

....just as soon as this story fades, I'll bet the fascist knuckleheads will go after her mother....

[alp227]

18. I thought that Mrs Obama would at least KNOW that SB1070 is not fed law

but rather simply Arizona law. Way to represent yourself well to kids, First Lady!

Ooh, don't let me sink to a Freeper level right here. I gotta cool down.

[EFerrari]

20. She does but the child wouldn't understand the difference.

So Mrs. Obama did what adults do when they talk to kids, addressed her concern in terms the child could understand.

[bitchkitty]

22. And this took place in Maryland.

That said, she's the First Lady. She's not his Administration, she's his wife.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted sub-thread

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[Jefferson23]

32. This video clip should be used over and over again, not to bash Michele,

but to press the American public to THINK before they support a disgusting immigration law like AZ.

[Lance_Boyle]

33. Sounds like the First Lady (hopefuly her husband, too) knows that amnesty is bad political juju.

They can try to reward the illegals, but they'll pay for it with their political careers. Amnesty is *not* popular with Americans, despite the obvious groupthink here at DU.

[pampango]

35. Though "amnesty" is not popular, a "path to citizenship" is. Republicans like using "amnesty".

"While 60 percent of Arizona voters express support for SB1070, a whopping 73 percent also support federal reform that includes both enforcement and a path to citizenship. Asking about support for SB1070 without also asking about comprehensive immigration reform fails to reveal voters' underlying motivations. As a result, the vast majority of polling data on SB1070 belies what public opinion research has repeatedly shown: that a majority of Americans--across regions and party lines--believe a federal overhaul of our broken immigration system that includes a path to legalization is the only way to end illegal immigration and move our country forward."

http://www.seiu.org/2010/05/arizona-polling-round-up.php

"The comprehensive immigration reform plan was subjected to a variety of Republican attacks, yet voters still favor the comprehensive approach. These attacks included labeling the approach as “amnesty” and calling for a “border security first” approach. Comprehensive reform wins over an “amnesty” attack 52%-39% overall and by 54%-37% in Colorado and 55%-32% in Ohio. The comprehensive approach is preferred to “border security first” approach by a 51%-40% margin overall and by a full 20-point margin in Ohio and 17 points in Missouri.

Earned legalization ("amnesty" to republicans) is the plan’s strongest provision, not a vulnerability. The most convincing reason to support comprehensive immigration reform, according to 51% of the respondents, is that “immigrants will be required to get legal and pay their fair share of taxes,” vs. 21% who say it “cracks down on employers” who hire undocumented workers and only 15% who like the plan because it “improves border security.” "

http://americasvoiceonline.org/pages/polls_show_most_americans_support_comprehensive_immigration_reform

"Previewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration Reform-Strategy 6: Stop Reform by Shouting 'Amnesty'

http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/previewing-the-right-wing-playbook-immigration-reform#strategy6

Opponents of any legislation that would provide an earned path to citizenship grabbed onto the word "amnesty" and plastered it even on legislation that required fines and significant other requirements for law-abiding immigrants to earn a path to citizenship. Decrying "amnesty" became a way to oppose any reform short of mass deportation without saying so directly, and we should expect "no amnesty" to be a rallying cry of those who oppose any responsible approach to reform. Indeed, Pat Buchanan has written, "'Comprehensive' is the code word for amnesty." He has insisted that "America is now risking national suicide…if a path to citizenship becomes law, nothing will stop the next invasion." In early 2007, some Republicans waged a campaign to try to keep then-Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida from becoming chairman of the GOP based on his support for comprehensive reform. The anti-Martinez organizing led RNC member Paul Senft to complain, "With some people, the issue of amnesty is a litmus test and anything short of a concentration camp is amnesty."

In 2007, as the 2008 presidential primary campaigns were getting under way, Politico said, "Political pandering was at a peak during a recent Republican presidential forum in New Hamsphire. Most of the 10 GOP White House hopefuls blasted the Senate bill as 'amnesty,' even though it calls for a steep path to legalization for most of the 21 million illegal immigrants."

[Lance_Boyle]

36. A 'path to citizenship' (AKA a reward for lawbreaking) IS an amnesty.

Come up with any euphemism you like, but rewarding illegals for being here illegally by granting them legal status is amnesty, and extremely unpopular.

[pampango]

38. I respect your opinion on the issue, but not your statement regarding its unpopularity.

I posted the results of polls that would indicate that it may be more popular than you believe. If you wish to declare that a "path to citizenship" or "amnesty" is extremely unpopular (at least with you) and leave it at that, fine. If you have polls showing that most people share your opinion on the issue, I'd be interested to see them.

Sometimes we just "know" that something is true or popular or unpopular without any research or polling to support our position.