Latinos run from Obama en mass after president punts immigration reform

President Barack Obama has bowed to worried Senate Democrats, delaying executive actions on immigration until after the midterm elections, fearing that using executive actions would make immigration reform a partisan issue which would hurt Democrats.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Obama had originally intended to take action on immigration by the end of the summer, but earlier this month the White House announced he would hold off.

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This delay has caused concern among immigration activists who fear that the president will never take executive action. Something that press secretary Josh Earnest insisted was not correct.

"This is a promise the president will keep," Earnest said during an appearance on Telemundo's "Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart." "The president has tasked his team with looking at the law and determining what kind of executive authority he can use to try to address the problems of our broken immigration system. They've come up with some good solutions. They will be finalized before the end of the year and the president will announce them before the end of the year."

Earnest said "the president has taken action before that has made a difference in try to addressing some of these problems," referring to the deferred action program that allows some illegal children to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

"The president believed that they needed relief. And working with his Homeland Security secretary and other law enforcement officials, was able to bring them relief," Earnest said. "The president made good on that promise and the president's gonna make good on this promise too."

Following the president's decision to drop immigration reform, Latino support for the White House has fallen sharply.  An NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll from earlier in September shows that Hispanic approval for the president has dropped 15% by April, 2013. Less than 3 in 10 Latino voters consider themselves happy with Obama.

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