Obama’s address gets mixed response from Las Vegas’ immigrant community

By Ana Ley

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015 | 11:30 p.m.

To the surprise of Las Vegas’ immigrant community, President Barack Obama’s hourlong address to the nation Tuesday scarcely mentioned the deportation deferral program he zealously touted just two months ago during a visit to Southern Nevada.

In fact, Obama only mentioned the term “immigration” twice in his 6,500-word State of the Union speech.

“I’m disappointed,” said Las Vegas immigration attorney Kathia Pereira, who viewed the televised address from her home. “This was a great opportunity for the president to discuss the need for immigration reform, but he didn’t show leadership.”

Still, the president had no shortage of supporters — about 50 activists who threw a watch party at the Culinary Union’s downtown headquarters responded with whoops, applause and laughter to his calls for “middle class economics” to reduce income inequality.

The group was quick to defend Obama after the speech and seemed satisfied with his threat to veto Republican efforts to overturn his executive actions easing deportations.

“He spoke loud and clear about immigration in November,” said Astrid Silva, a local activist who got a shoutout from Obama last year and subsequently became the face of his go-it-alone plan. “Nothing the president could have said would have spoken more than the action he already took.”

Among the crowd was the family of Blanca Gamez, 25, a UNLV graduate and activist who was invited by Sen. Harry Reid to attend the speech.

“I’m so happy for her,” her mother, Amelia Gamez, said in Spanish. Because one of their children is a U.S. citizen, Amelia Gamez and her husband can apply for deportation relief through Obama’s executive action. “We’re still not sure why (Reid) picked her, but we’re so excited.”

But even Obama’s supporters were surprised by his brief mention of the topic.

“I certainly did expect him to bring it up a little bit more, especially when he talked about (changes in Cuban policy) because that would have been a good segue,” former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores said. “But while immigration reform is absolutely important and critical for the continued growth and expansion of the economy, we have to acknowledge that jobs have always been the No. 1 priority for everyone in this country, regardless of demographics.”