A school in Waukegan, Illinois, will not be named after former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama following protests from members of the local Latino community.
The school in question, presently named after American founder and President Thomas Jefferson, will instead be renamed after John Lewis, a civil rights leader and Democratic lawmaker who died in July 2020.
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Local leaders opposed naming the school after the Obamas because the two-term Democratic president deported too many illegal immigrants, Newsweek reported.
“I will not be part of renaming a school after someone who did not and does not represent the undocumented community,” said Edgar Castellanos, a school board member who said he first entered the U.S. as an illegal immigrant.
Another local activist, Julie Contreras, said she feels Obama “did a disservice to us” in his handling of illegal immigration.
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“He denied us,” she said, “and he didn’t stop the deportations the way he promised.”
Some prominent conservative voices called attention to the decision in Waukegan, arguing it is an example of cancel culture turning on the left.
For some context, during his two terms as president, Obama oversaw the deportation of some five million illegal immigrants, affording him the title “deporter-in-chief.” However, he deported fewer than his predecessors, former President George W. Bush, who deported 10 million in eight years, and former President Bill Clinton, who deported 12 million in eight years. Obama did, though, remove far more illegal immigrants than his successor, former President Donald Trump, whose administration deported 935,000 people in four years.
Speaking about Obama’s handling of illegal immigration, President Joe Biden, who served as vice president under Obama, said the administration “took far too long to get it right,” adding, “I think it was a big mistake.”
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