Michelle Obama to Latinos: ‘We cannot afford to wait on Congress’ for immigration

First lady Michelle Obama grabbed the political reins during a speech to the League of United Latin American Citizens in New York City, telling the crowd of admirers not to worry — that her husband wouldn’t wait on Congress to take action on immigration reform.

“So make no mistake about it — we have to keep on fighting as hard as we can on immigration,” Mrs. Obama said, to a cheering crowd, Breitbart reported. “And as my husband has said, he’s going to do whatever administrative action it takes to fix this broken system.”

Mrs. Obama then vowed that Congress wouldn’t get in the way of her presidential husband’s hopes for immigration change.

“We cannot afford to wait on Congress to lift up our next generation,” she said, Breitbart reported. “We can’t afford to wait on anybody when it comes to our kids’ future. Your grandparents and parents didn’t wait for opportunities to come to them. No, they packed up their families and moved to this country for a better life.”

Shortly after, Mrs. Obama began to list the civil rights offenses that plagued the Hispanic community at America’s hands in recent decades.

“Back then,” she said, referring to 1929 and the start of the LULAC, “Latinos were being brutalized and killed by police and lynched by the KKK. ’No Mexicans Allowed’ signs hung outside of restaurants and storefronts. Latinos often couldn’t own property, or serve on a jury. And if you walked into a public building, you’d often see not two water fountains, but three — one white, one black and one brown.”