Demonstrators protest Obama's plan to deport undocumented migrants
Published 18 hrs ago
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Anti-deportation demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, December 30, 2015. (Reuters Photo)
Moe than 100 demonstrators marched on the White House on Wednesday to protest a reported plan to deport undocumented migrants from the U.S.
A series of raids to deport families who illegally entered the U.S. since the beginning of 2014 was first reported last week by the Washington Post.
The newspaper said immigration officials have been preparing to carry out the proposed program nationwide as soon as January. It would be the first large-scale deportation program to be carried out since a mass exodus of Central Americans fled their home countries beginning at the start of last year for fear of violence.
More than 100,000 families fled the region since that time, according to the Post.
Organizers of Wednesday's rally urged President Barack Obama to refrain from carrying out the plan, emphasizing that those who would be deported should be classified as refugees.
"We as a nation, our values, is to welcome the refugee community," said Gustavo Torres, the executive director of Casa of Maryland, the nonprofit that organized the rally. "Regardless of your immigration status, you have rights in this country."
But many of those who are likely to be targeted in any prospective raid have been found by a U.S. court to lack qualifications for asylum, or failed to follow court orders, the Post said.
Still, Raquel, who declined to give her last name but said she was born in Los Angles to undocumented parents, said that she fears for their safety should the plan go into effect.
"It's scary thinking that I could come home and they're not there," she said.
For those found ineligible for asylum status, she added, "they have certain good reasons for being here. Some are scared to go back to their country, because there is just bad problems-there is too much violence".
Central America is in the midst of a a sharp spike in violent crime, with El Salvador in particular reportedly experiencing some of the worst violent crime since it emerged from civil war in 1992.
And neighboring Honduras continues to have one of the highest murder rates in the world.
The State Department in October issued a warning to Americans planning to visit the country that "the level of crime and violence in Honduras remains critically high".
An undocumented woman introduced only by her first name, Sarah, told Wednesday's rally that her countrymen continue to flee Honduras for fear of ongoing violence.
"The people that are at risk of deportation are fleeing that violence, and now they are at risk of returning to it," she said in remarks translated from Spanish.
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Activists protest plan to deport Central Americans with White House march
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Immigrants and activists march to the White House to protest planned deportation raids against immigrant families fleeing violence in Central America. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
By Joe Heim December 30 at 8:51 PM
A hundred or so demonstrators from around the region marched Wednesday from Capitol Hill to the White House to protest planned raids by the government to deport newly arrived immigrants who entered the country illegally.
The protesters began their march outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on South Capitol Street, chanting “No more deportation” and holding signs bearing messages such as “You want my vote? Say no to deportations!”
“There are a lot of families in danger, if they were deported, because of the violence in their countries,” said Jennifer Romero, 19, who lives in Stafford, Va. “We are going to be out, and we are always going to keep fighting for our rights.”
The plan to deport the immigrants, which would be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was revealed in a Washington Post report last week.
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Gustavo Torres, the executive director of CASA de Maryland, rallies with immigrants and activists outside the White House in protest of the planned deportation raids against immigrant families. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
If it is approved, it would be the first major effort to deport families that have fled violence in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and other countries. More than 100,000 Central American families with children have surged across the border since last year, which doesn’t include the hundreds of minors who have made the dangerous journey without parents. The ICE operation would be aimed only at those who have already been ordered removed by immigration judges, The Post reported.
But the plan has caused a furor among immigrants, who have accused the Obama administration of betraying them. And it has reverberated in the presidential campaign, prompting concern from Democrat Hillary Clinton and denunciations from her rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.
The march was designed to give those outraged by the planned deportations a chance to respond, said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, as he led the protest in front of ICE offices, one of the stops the marchers made as they wended their way through downtown Washington.
The protest began at DNC headquarters because Clinton needs to speak out, Torres said.
“She needs to demonstrate that she’s different from [Donald] Trump and say that we welcome these refugees. And President Obama needs to speak out as well.”
The march ended at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Torres said, because the deportation plan originated with the Obama administration.
“You say you are the president of the Latino and immigrant communities,” Torres said. “Please demonstrate that.”
At the White House, the protesters marched in a loop in front of the north entrance, where they were outnumbered by uniformed Secret Service agents, police, journalists and curious tourists, including a dozen or so on Segways. Chants of “Obama! Obama! Do not deport my mama!” drew smiles from onlookers, but other messages had a more anxious tone.
Josue, a speaker who identified himself only by his first name and who organizers said could not provide his country of origin because it would further complicate his legal status, told the protesters in front of the White House that he arrived at the end of 2013 and was on a deportation list.
“I’m panicked, and I’m afraid,” he said through a translator. “Not to just be deported, but to return to my country and be killed. President Obama wants to send me to a certain death sentence. . . . I ask President Obama to stop this inhumane plan.”
Another speaker, Sarah Hernandez, said she arrived 15 years ago from Honduras. She also pleaded for the deportation plan to be abandoned. “People are fleeing the violence [in Honduras], and now they are in danger of returning to it,” she said.
Felix Kala, a Bowie, Md., resident who came to the United States from Cameroon three years ago, told the crowd that African immigrants were there in solidarity with those from Central America.
“We are here to sympathize,” he said. “If they start sending you, tomorrow they will come for us.”
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