Immigrants from Painesville protest deportations outside Cleveland federal building
cleveland.com
Regina Garcia Cano, The Plain Dealer
Published: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 8:00 PM
Updated: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 7:21 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- About 100 Hispanic immigrants who reside in Painesville rallied against deportations in front of the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building in downtown Cleveland Tuesday.

The protest was an attempt to show elected officials that the immigrant community "will not tolerate" abuses from authorities, said Veronica Dahlberg, executive director of the local Hispanic advocacy group HOLA. She said immigrants living in Painesville have been a target of immigration authorities for many years.

"The immigration office get assistance from police departments," Dahlberg said. "Sometimes people get stopped for minor infractions and they don't even get a ticket. But once the police book them over and they find out they're undocumented, they get reported to immigration."

Tuesday's rally comes five days after Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that the department will review nearly 300,000 deportation cases pending in immigration court.

"Our continued focus is on effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes efforts first on those serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, not sweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately," said Khaalid Walls, of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The adults and children at the rally were joined by Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, two immigration lawyers, church leaders, representatives from Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and immigration advocates.

The group used English-written signs to express their message. Most of the signs referred to separation of families that immigrants face.

A child held a sign that said: "I need my dad I've been w/o him for 1 year now."

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/08 ... le_pr.html