Thread: Immigration advocates demand reform from Obama presidency

Immigration advocates demand reform from Obama presidency

By Associated Press | Sunday, November 16, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | General Politics
CHICAGO — Whether President-elect Barack Obama plans to deal with the nation’s immigration system quickly after taking office, reminders of the problem are resurfacing.

Petitions collected Saturday in Chicago at a church in the Pilsen neighborhood will be sent to Obama next week demanding that immigration raids be dramatically scaled back under his administration. Signed by U.S. citizens on behalf of friends or family in the country illegally, the letters also called for new action on immigration reform within the first year of Obama’s presidency.

Meanwhile, activists in several cities are planning a January march in Washington, and strategists wonder how else to make immigration reform a higher priority in light of the nation’s sputtering economy.

"We want to show the devastating effect this has had on American citizens," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose office orchestrated the Saturday event at St. Pius V Church. "We want to make sure that, certainly within the first year, this is a high-prioritized agenda item."

Obama, who favors a path to legalization, previously said he hoped to tackle the issue during his first year in office. His transition team did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Frustrated by the scant mentions of the problem during Obama’s presidential campaign, immigration advocates — including a Chicago-driven national coalition of Mexican immigrant leaders — vowed to keep pushing the issue.

They pointed to overwhelming support for Obama by immigrant voters, with Latin American and Asian immigrants choosing the president-elect by a ratio of 2-1, according to several exit polls.

"The real question, in my mind, is not whether the new administration is going to be willing to take the initiative, it’s going to be whether the Democratic members of Congress are going to have the backbone" to push through reforms, said Frank Sharry, executive director America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group in Washington, referring to Democratic majorities in both houses.

Inside the Pilsen church, 500 people gathered for several hours, filling out petitions and sharing stories about how raids and other problems have affected their lives.

"They took away my husband," said Maria Garcia-Lynch, a U.S. citizen whose husband was deported more than four years ago after he entered the country illegally. "They took him far away from me. . . . Separating families is amoral."

Julie Savitt told the group that her husband’s deportation to Guatemala in June has devastated their family.

"I live in a whirlwind: exhausted, overworked, stressed and ill," she said. "Deportation of a loved one is like death without resolution. The empty space in all of our lives can only be repaired when my husband and their father is returned."

The stories, told in a mix of Spanish and English, drew tears from the crowd, including Gutierrez. He said he would take their concerns to Obama.

"We propose to stop the attack on the fabric of our community by calling for a halt to these deportations," Gutierrez said. "I say the government should always be used . . . to preserve families, not destroy families."

Still, with job losses continuing across the country, the timing of such efforts could backfire on advocates, said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a Washington group seeking to curb immigration.

"I would think it would not be good for them to have a big loss at the beginning of an Obama administration," he said. "These are almost the worst possible conditions for them to push for this."

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politi ... id=1132796

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"We want to show the devastating effect this has had on American citizens," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose office orchestrated the Saturday event at St. Pius V Church. "We want to make sure that, certainly within the first year, this is a high-prioritized agenda item."

Yeah? Like what?

"They took away my husband," said Maria Garcia-Lynch, a U.S. citizen whose husband was deported more than four years ago after he entered the country illegally. "They took him far away from me. . . . Separating families is amoral."

As a US citizen, you should have known what you were doing marrying an illegal alien.

"I live in a whirlwind: exhausted, overworked, stressed and ill," she said. "Deportation of a loved one is like death without resolution. The empty space in all of our lives can only be repaired when my husband and their father is returned."

OH PLEASE I`m gonna puke! Go back to your country and stop taking our money you ****ing sponge!

"We propose to stop the attack on the fabric of our community by calling for a halt to these deportations," Gutierrez said. "I say the government should always be used . . . to preserve families, not destroy families."

I propose that they stop taking our resources and jobs nimcumpoop. "The government preserve FAMILYS" oh please, they destroy familys like mine. I can`t even get a job because the illegals have totally taken over. Yep an invasion without a shot, so true!

Alot of them are here and their immidiate families are still back in Mexico. They have been here for years without their family.

I just don`t understand why I don`t here about a "March for Americans" sick and tired of the illegal invasion, or a march demanding the corrupt jerks out of office and in jail!

Another sloppy one-sided article from the Associated Press.

"We propose to stop the attack on the fabric of our community by calling for a halt to these deportations," Gutierrez said. "I say the government should always be used . . . to preserve families, not destroy families."

Our community? You mean American's community, No Illegal Alien can call any place in our country their community!!!!!!!!!! Their community is that sess hole they call Mexico. Don't turn our country into what you left!!!!!!

And what fabric would that be? They left their trash on the border when they crossed it.

If you don't like the deportations, you can always leave and go back where you came from, or stop marrying Illegal Aliens if you are a citizen of the USA.

The comments at the source link are very interesting. The public is fed up with this!

added to the homepage with note

http://www.alipac.us/article3738.html


ALIPAC NOTE: Let's all prepare to defeat AMNESTY again!

We have chain immigration, Maby it is time for Chain deportation. If we deport the entire family we wont be splitting up familys. All we need to do is make knowingly aiding an illegal a deportable offence.