Immigration is roiling the presidential contest as President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney seek to court the swelling Hispanic-American population, as an issue that normally takes a backseat during presidential campaigns is thrust to the forefront.
Just last week Obama took advantage of the power of the presidency and announced plans to ease deportation rules for some children of illegal immigrants, changing the political conversation from the struggling economy to immigration and energising Hispanic voters.
Indeed, both sides are crafting aggressive strategies to appeal to a demographic that is by no means monolithic but has supported Democrats in recent elections. Some Republicans fear — and Democrats hope — that Obama could capitalise on this moment to help solidify Hispanic voters as predominantly Democratic this year and for years to come, much as President Lyndon Johnson hardened the black vote for Democrats as he pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended legal discrimination of African-Americans in the South.
The stakes are high not only for states with larger Hispanic populations such as Florida, Nevada and Colorado, but for a growing number of other battlegrounds — Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia, among them — where even a modest shift among Latino voters could be significant. The United States' Latino population surged from about 35 million in 2000 to 50 million in 2010, according to the Census Bureau.
The new policy could help anywhere from 800,000 young immigrants — the administration's estimate — to the Pew Hispanic Center's estimate of 1.4 million.
The move was politically timely, in the heat of the campaign, and with Obama needing to energise a key part of his base of supporters — many of whom had grown disenchanted over the past three years. While the direct beneficiaries of the directive can't vote for Obama, his action has widespread support among American Latinos.
In fact, Obama has long enjoyed support among Hispanics — he won 67% of the Latino vote in 2008.
But he risked losing their enthusiasm, partly because Hispanics have been among the hardest hit by the economic slowdown. Obama also lost some support because he hasn't fulfilled promises of a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system and because his administration has been aggressively deporting illegal immigrants. A December poll by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that 59% of Latinos disapproved of the president's handling of deportations.
Obama senior adviser David Axelrod predicts that the president could exceed his 2008 performance with Hispanics this year, noting that his opponent then was Sen. John McCain, who had initially pushed for an overhaul of the immigration system.
The Romney campaign has struggled to offer a consistent response to the president's move. Romney has assailed Obama's "broken promises" on immigration in recent days but has focused on the new policy's temporary status as his prime criticism.
Romney's own immigration policy is unclear as he works to distance himself from harsh conservative rhetoric that was common during the extended Republican primary season earlier in the year.
Facing a Rhode Island audience in April, for example, Romney drew large cheers when he said, "We want people to come here legally. And we like it when they come here speaking English."