By Teresa Puente –

There are many important issues facing our new president from the economy to the housing crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But one topic Obama is ignoring is immigration reform. We heard Obama talk about immigration reform on the campaign trail promising to make it a “top priority” in his first term.

He has come out in favor of a plan for legalization of some of the undocumented. He has supported driver’s licenses for the undocumented and the DREAM Act to legalize undocumented youth who complete college or military service.

Since taking office he hasn’t said much publicly about these issues. There was no mention of it during his inaugural speech or in his speech before Congress.

Many who support a plan to legalize the 11-12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are starting to wonder if Obama is afraid to tackle immigration while the economy is tanking.

Maybe he’s listening too much to his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who once warned Democrats that immigration is the “third rail of American politics.”

Obama hasn’t been very successful in convincing Republicans to work with him on the stimulus plan or the budget. Immigration reform is an even harder sell.

But Obama can’t and shouldn’t back down from his campaign promises.

And if he does he’s likely to hear it from Hispanic and immigrant community leaders.

According to the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, 67 percent of Latinos voted for Obama and only 31 percent for John McCain. Obama won the Latino vote by a 2-to-1 margin.

This was a substantial increase from 2004 when Sen. John Kerry won 53 percent of the Latino vote and President Bush won 44 percent.

Democrats may soon feel the pressure from loyal Latinos – 10 million of them went to the polls in 2008.

The first place Obama should start is with the DREAM Act that was originally sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin and was defeated in a Senate vote in October 2007. It could legalize up to a million young immigrants who were brought here by their parents.

It would allow undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before age 16 and have lived here for at least five years, graduated from high school and have a clean criminal record, to become legal if they complete two years of college or military service.

These young people should be the first to benefit from immigration reform. They did not choose to come to this country but were brought here by their parents. Some don’t even know they are undocumented until they graduate from high school and their parents tell them. These are students who are educated in our schools, speak English and are culturally American.

Why do we want to them to remain second-class citizens?

If they go on to college, they will contribute more to the tax base when they graduate.

And if they go into the military they will help us shore up our armed forces. How could we not give legal status to someone willing to risk his or her life for this country?

Some say Obama is already trying to tackle too many issues at once and should just focus on the economy.

Before he left office President George Bush admitted that he wished he would have pushed harder for immigration reform. President Obama please don’t make that same mistake.

Teresa Puente is editor and publisher of Latina Voices.