Thread: Immigration reform advocates take message to Rokita

Mar. 21, 2014 8:52 PM
Written by
Mikel Livingston



Rudy Lopez, foreground, and Dae Joong Yoon of the national Fast For Families Across America campaign arrive Friday for a luncheon at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in West Lafayette. The group is calling on Rep. Todd Rokita to act on immigration reform. / John Terhune/Journal & Courier

Two immigration reform advocates brought their nationwide message to Greater Lafayette on Friday, pressing U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita to take action on comprehensive immigration reform.

Rudy Lopez and Dae Joong Yoon, of Fast for Families, spent the day in Greater Lafayette, meeting with community leaders and delivering a call to action to the office of Rep. Todd Rokita.

“We are here today ... to take the message that every day our nation does not have immigration reform, families are suffering and our nation cannot move forward,” Lopez said. “So we’re asking (Rokita) to show his leadership, to press upon (House) Speaker (John) Boehner, to be able to move the legislative process forward.”

In response to the Journal & Courier’s request for comment, Rokita released this statement:

“Like most Hoosiers, I believe we must pursue responsible solutions to improve our broken immigration system. I will continue working in Congress to pass immigration reforms that address the problems piece by piece, including border security and enforcement, economic and workforce issues, and dealing with illegal immigrants already in the country.

“In a nation of laws, we should not reward those who have broken our laws to get here while law-abiding people wait in line for a chance to become Americans. It’s a matter of basic fairness.”

Fast for Families grew out of a November demonstration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. There the pair led a 22-day fast to draw attention to the need for immigration reform, which they say will prevent the division of families as illegal immigrants are deported and thus separated from their children who, being born in the United States, are citizens.

Lopez and Yoon know firsthand the impact those laws have on families. Lopez grew up in an immigrant household. Yoon is an immigrant and father.

“I cannot just sit down while I see that children are being separated from their moms and dads,” Yoon said. “Children growing up without parents or without family, that’s not the way.”

The Immigration Policy Center, citing data from the Department of Homeland Security, said more than 204,000 parents of U.S.-citizen children have been removed between July 1, 2010, and Sept. 31, 2012. President Barack Obama earlier this month ordered a review of his administration’s approach to enforcing immigration laws, saying he had “deep concern” about the impact it was having on families.

Hector Avila of Lafayette took part in that November demonstration that kick-started the Fast for Families movement. Avila, an Ivy Tech Community College student originally from Mexico, was one of several who delivered a letter to Boehner’s Washington, D.C., office.

“That was a powerful moment,” Avila said. “He had the opportunity to bring immigration reform up for a vote and did not take that.”

Fast for Families is crossing the country to raise awareness and press lawmakers into action.

“We just hope this push is helpful in order to achieve immigration reform,” Avila said. “We hope that events like this can persuade (Rokita) to take a look and give us the support we need on immigration reform.”

The pair began the day with a breakfast with local community leaders before meeting with Bishop Timothy Doherty of the Diocese of Lafayette. After a community lunch at St. Thomas Aquinas, the group met with labor leaders before holding a community rally at Riehle Plaza.

“We shared our stories and our hope, and then we really agreed that immigration reform is the best thing for America,” Yoon said. “This is really time for our Congress member, Rokita, to take some action to better this country.”

http://www.jconline.com/article/2014...sage-to-Rokita

This quote from the article below:“I cannot just sit down while I see that children are being separated from their moms and dads,” Yoon said. “Children growing up without parents or without family, that’s not the way.”

Look at how factually false that statement is. If families are being separated, it is not because OUR country enforces its laws. It is the families themselves who are freely choosing to separate its members. The US government is not forcing children to remain here while deporting the parents. That is exactly the implication of that statement. Obviously the parents are free to take their Children back to Mexico with them. These "American citizens" are only citizens because their parents sneaked across OUR border in a flagrant act of contempt for our nation and its sovereignty.

Look at how phony this "separating families" argument is: The country is full of families that have been "separated" because a parent is in prison for breaking the law. And let's not accept the excuse that the illegal aliens are harmless law breakers who only want a better life. You could say that about many embezzlers, people selling counterfeit video disks, conmen etc. Are we only supposed to enforce the law on unmarried people who have no children? Besides amnesty would include many single people.

Immigration laws allow us to exist as an independent nation. They are the very foundation upon which our national sovereignty rest, and breaking them destabilizes our nation and the welfare of every real American citizen.

The recurrent theme used by open borders advocates is that amnesty should be granted as a humane act so as not to inflict a hardships on poor innocuous people. Putting aside the false generalizations about benign illegal aliens, often people are forgiven for violations of the law due to hardship circumstances. However such hardship exemptions must be very few. To grant hardship exemptions on a mass scale, tens of millions, is a de facto nullification of the entire law.