Monday, President Obama spoke at the National Council of La Raza annual conference and recommitted himself to working towards getting the DREAM Act passed and work towards immigration reform, but along with the President, Republican presidential candidates were invited to address the conference. However, NCLR’s President said all nine turned down the invitation.
Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the NCLR said when she was planning this year’s conference, she made sure to invite each of the nine candidates currently entered in the 2012 presidential race, to give them the opportunity to speak to a large group of Latinos.
By turning down the invitation, Murguîa told Latina, “To me, it reflects that we are not a priority.” The NCLR conference is one of the largest Latino events in the country. “Even Republican political analysts have been saying that the next president needs to have 40% of the Latino vote to get elected, and yet there is this failure among Republicans to even be part of the conversation.”
As for President Obama, at the NCLR 2008 conference, he promised to deliver on comprehensive immigration reform in his first year in office. Murguía is
