Thread: 100 protest deportations in Detroit

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
100 protest deportations in Detroit
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- About 100 people wasted no time in asking President Obama for a moratorium on deporting undocumented persons with family who are United States citizens.

The group, organized by Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES) Detroit office, marched from a pharmacy at Jefferson and Walker to the Rosa Parks Federal Building on Wednesday, showing their support for the president on his first day in office and seeking the moratorium.

"We want to make it clear that we support our government; that we support President Barack Obama," said the Rev. Guy Christopher Snyder of All Saints Catholic Church in southwest Detroit. "Our laws sometimes miss the mark. Families are being divided."

The deportations follow a series of raids in Michigan and other states in which undocumented people were arrested. Snyder and others want laws changed so that people with family legally residing in the country are not deported.

Deportations from the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, jumped 45 percent, or from 5,057 to more than 7,500, according to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Detroit. That increase is a 12-month record. The number this year could increase as federal officials report deporting about one-fourth of that record amount in October and November.

Obama briefly addresses keeping families together on the White House Web site. He calls for officials to fix "the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill."

He also calls for a removal of "incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants," on the site.

Although the group wanted to demonstrate outside of the federal building for a few minutes, Detroit police officers made the group walk about the building or disperse.

The group carried signs that said "God bless the immigrant families" and "President Obama, you have our hope." Many refused to give their names to reporters.

Nancy Orozco, a 15-year-old Detroiter, said she marched with the group to show there is a need for immigration reform.

"They are being taken advantage of," she said of undocumented workers. "They pay taxes. They work. They are being deported for no reason."

Snyder said his great-grandparents came to the United States 100 years ago from Slovenia for a better way of life. He said they taught his older relatives that keeping families together is important.

Deporting people who have families in America is not consistent with those beliefs, he said.

"We want our children to grow with these core family values," he told the crowd.

Esmeralda Orozco, no relation to Nancy, said those who wish to deport people here illegally should remember the immigrants often are fleeing bad living conditions.

"They are looking for a better way of life," the 19-year-old Detroiter said. "I am glad we are doing this."

http://detnews.com

Comments can be left there. So far every one is negative!

I tried to leave a link, but their site kept kicking me off line. Sorry, someone else will have to leave one.

They are being deported for no reason."

Of all the ignorant idiocy I have ever heard! They are being deported because they broke the federal Immigration Law and are not legally allowed to be here. MOSES should lead you to your promise land.....in a different country.

I had to make a phone call, I couldn't resist. Supporting law breakers isn't very christian and he needed to be reminded of this. I was handled very politely by the secretary which I appreciate. It is better than being hung up on like our government officials! All she said was that she would pass it on to Rev Snyder.

All Saints Parish
Detroit
Founded: 1896
All Saints is part of a cluster with SS. Andrew and Benedict Parish.

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Mailing Address: 7824 W. Fort Street
Detroit, MI 48209-2704
(The address given is the mailing address of the parish and may not be the actual street address.)

Phone: Office (313) 841-1428
Facsimile (313) 841-3009

Parish E-Mail: jackies@parishpilot.com

Central Region - Southwest Vicariate

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Mass Schedule:
All Seasons Sunday 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. Spanish
Wednesday 6:00 p.m. Spanish
First Friday 8:30 p.m. Spanish
First Saturday 9:30 a.m. Spanish
Second Sunday 10:00 a.m. Oct. - April at SS. Andrew and Benedict

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Parish Services:
Hispanic Ministry
Religious Education
Soup Kitchen
St. Vincent de Paul Society
Youth Group
Parish Personnel:
Administrator Rev. Guy Snyder, PIME
Deacon Deacon Norbert Motowski

I don't think Detroiters will be very receptive to this considering there are no jobs for Detroiters in Detroit!