LOS ANGELES - July 25 - In response to President Obama's speech today at the annual convention of the National Council de la Raza, Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued this statement:

"Despite soaring rhetoric, the President's unbridled enforcement of unjust and outdated immigration laws has contributed to an unprecedented civil rights crisis for our community. And his administration has deported over one million people, surpassing the total number of people removed during Operation Wetback. The President can now claim the title, deporter-in-chief.

We know ICE has gone rogue, but we're starting to feel like the President is going rogue on immigration too. It is not enough for him to blame Congress or to bemoan the difficulty of his job. He can- and must- take action to protect members of our community who are under siege.

The President can use existing authority to move the country in the right direction. He should take swift action to prevent the Arizonification of the country by refusing to let local police act as agents of deportation. For example, the President should, as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has requested, immediately suspend the Secure Communities program until the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General can complete her report. At this rate, President Obama's S-Comm policy will go down in history with Eisenhower's 'Operation Wetback.' Both have the same pernicious consequences, but one has a better speech writer."