The plan by the Obama administration to start deporting undocumented immigrants from Central America next month may create problems for Democrats, particularly Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, and become a central issue in the presidential race, analysts say.
Starting January, the Department of Homeland Security, through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will start a series of raids that will target families who entered the U.S. illegally since January this year, the Washington Post reported.
More than 100,000 families composed of adults and children have made the journey across the U.S. southwest border since last year.
The ICE operation will target only adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge. Those found would be detained and immediately deported.
An internal debate on the policy is currently going on within the Obama administration, which has long indicated that families who come to the U.S. illegally and are not qualified for asylum will be deported.
Immigration advocates have urged the U.S. government to treat these people as refugees, saying they went to the U.S. because of violence in Central America.
Immigration advocate Frank Sharry said the issue will put intense pressure on Democratic presidential candidates, especially Clinton, to denounce the policy. It could force Clinton to decide whether to support immigration advocates and Latinos—as she has been doing with the hope of getting huge support from Latino voters—or breaking with the Obama administration on the issue.
"This will be a political nightmare for the Democrats," Sharry told The Washington Post. "The spectre of raids picking up families and sending them back to violent countries is going to put Hillary Clinton in a difficult position. She'll have to choose between protecting refugees from Central America, a demand of the Latino community, or standing with the law-and-order position of Obama and Republicans."
The issue may also threaten to blur the contrasts the Democrats have been working hard to draw with Republicans. Donald Trump, whose speeches call for mass deportations and who have insulted millions of immigrants, has pushed Republicans rightward on immigration.
"The administration will be accused of being Trump-like with immigrants," Sharry said. "She'll have to choose."
A new CNN poll has increased Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders among Democratic and Democrat-leaning independent voters nationwide to 50-34.
