Thread: Immigration rights supporters asking Ann Arbor officials to

Immigration rights supporters asking Ann Arbor officials to help stop deportation of mother of three

annarbor.com
By Ryan J. Stanton
Political Reporter
Posted: Wed, Dec 7, 2011 : 11:34 a.m.


Lourdes Salazar Bautista, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1997 and is facing deportation Dec. 27, appears before the Ann Arbor City Council with two of her three children and a translator.

The campaign to stop the deportation of Lourdes Salazar Bautista, a long-term Ann Arbor resident and a mother of three, has made its way to city hall.

"I've come here to ask for your support," Bautista said, making an emotional plea Monday night before the Ann Arbor City Council and speaking through a translator.

Bautista, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1997, is facing deportation Dec. 27 after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly a month in July 2010.

"Everything was fine until last year," she said. "Immigration came and picked me up and I was detained for 23 days. And in exchange for me to stay, my husband was deported. So now I'm here, I was here for a year, and now they want to deport me, too."


About three dozen supporters attended the council meeting, carrying signs with messages like "We are with Lourdes!" and "Protect families, support Lourdes."

A large coalition of community organizers and activist groups are rallying behind Bautista, and they're now calling on the City Council and Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to voice their support before she's deported two days after Christmas.

Specifically, supporters are hoping to have the city and county sign on to a letter addressed to ICE Director John Morton that demands a halt to Bautista's deportation.

"Rather than the destruction of her family for Christmas, help Lourdes give her children the gift of stability," Laura Sanders, one of the co-founders of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, told council members Monday night.

About three dozen supporters attended the council meeting, carrying signs with messages like "We are with Lourdes!" and "Protect families, support Lourdes."

Sanders said Bautista moved here 14 years ago and has three children — ages 7, 9 and 13 — who are U.S. citizens, attend Ann Arbor schools, and "very much need their mother."

"We may not be able to solve this huge problem on the local level, but we can open the conversation, take a stand against injustice, and make a difference for this family," she said.

Council Member Mike Anglin, D-5th Ward, said there's probably not much the City Council can do about federal immigration matters.

"It's well beyond our means," he said. "But the dialogue that needs to happen nationally is very important and we're members of that dialogue."

Anglin called Ann Arbor a progressive city that cares about all people, and he said he thinks it's a worthy cause to fight to keep Bautista from being deported.


Laura Sanders, one of the co-founders of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, joins Bautista at the podium.

"There are plenty of reasons to deport people for criminal activities," he said. "I would be the first one to sign that letter. But in cases in which someone's been living here, paying taxes, having a job, and raising a family, I find it extremely difficult not to take a stand on this."

Sanders said Bautista has no criminal record, and her case is not an isolated incident. While President Barack Obama has made it a policy to target criminals for deportation, more than half of the 400,000 immigrants deported in 2010 had no criminal records, Sanders said.

"Our community is a special target for this discriminatory and trumped-up enforcement because of our close proximity to the Canadian border," she said, adding Detroit-based immigration teams come into Washtenaw County neighborhoods targeting Latino immigrants.

As a result, Sanders said, hundreds of children in Washtenaw County alone have lost their parents.

But through entities like the city's Human Rights Commission, Sanders said, Ann Arbor stands out as a beacon of equality for all people.

"Let's get really smart about how our precious immigrant community is under attack in the name of national security," she said.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/lourdes-sa ... ive.com%29

Sanders said Bautista moved here 14 years ago and has three children — ages 7, 9 and 13 — who are U.S. citizens, attend Ann Arbor schools, and "very much need their mother."

So she dropped anchor asap and I'll bet she's been on the public dole ever since.

Been here FOURTEEN years and still needs a translator? BOO HOO HOO, don't let the door hit in the rear on your way out... and take the anchors with you! Then there will be absolutely NO so called "destruction" of the family...

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Sanders said Bautista moved here 14 years ago and has three children — ages 7, 9 and 13 — who are U.S. citizens, attend Ann Arbor schools, and "very much need their mother."

So she dropped anchor asap and I'll bet she's been on the public dole ever since.

Don't you mean 3 anchors!

Too bad, so sad. She has been here 14 years and needs an interpreter? Guess who is paying for the interpreter, you!

Deport her!

I work in a hospital and we must order an intrepreter for friends of patients who visit (if the friend or patient requests it) at a cost of $120 bucks an hour, two hour minimum. Interpreters are always ordered for explanation of care, procedures, etc. BUT friends! Sickens me. No wonder our hospital is going broke. It is like a revolving door in the ER........................

The sign in the picture one of the women is holding should read, "Protect U.S. Families - Deport Lourdes AND her family."

I posted to the comment section, had to sign up, but you can vote up the comments without signing up. The comments are pretty good.

I don't feel sorry for any of you . no gov feel sorry for us
No,way in hell DePort her & ever one that with her
No amnesty or Dream act

Oh for crying out loud and it is in Michigan too. I just moved away from Mesa, AZ to get away from all that crap. I've been seeing more and more of them around the Metropolitan Detroit area. Please Michigan, DO NOT fall for this crap or it will sneak up and bite you in the ass like it did AZ. And once they take over and it gets out of control there is no recovering the state!