Thread: PHOTOS: Illegal Immigrant Moms Protest Impending Deportation

LISTEN, PHOTOS: Illegal Immigrant Moms Protest Impending Deportation
WMAL.com
Martin Di Caro
9/22/2011

Audio @ link


Immigrants' rights advocates during press conference outside ICE office in Washington.

WASHINGTON -- Undocumented immigrants and dozens of supporters, including the pro-amnesty group Casa de Maryland, rallied outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in the District Wednesday, demanding relief for four women facing deportation. The women, all mothers of young children, were among the protesters, clutching posters of their families and chanting.

After a brief news conference, the protesters attempted to enter the federal building but were stopped by guards. About 30 minutes later, an ICE official emerged from the front entrance and briefly spoke with the women, but did not allow them to enter.

Casa de Maryland executive director Gustavo Torres said he handed over the photos of the women's families in the hope ICE may reconsider their cases.

"What we accomplished is to send a very clear message to the Homeland Security Department and President Obama that they promised they would offer relief to these families and they didn't," Torres said. At issue is an Obama administration policy that is supposed to focus on apprehending criminally-convicted aliens instead of illegal immigrants with no criminal convictions and substantial ties to the U.S., such as being the parent of a citizen child.

PHOTOS: LEGALLY HERE OR NOT, THESE WOMEN ARE FIGHTING TO STAY IN THE U.S.
http://www.wmal.com/photoWallPhoto.asp? ... ID=4863786

Roxana Santos, a 31-year-old undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, is scheduled to be deported on September 30th.. She is suing the Frederick County Sheriff's department, alleging she was the victim of racial profiling after being arrested outside her job while eating lunch. She said deportation would prevent her from earning enough money to support her family, which includes a one-year-old son back in her native country.

"She works to provide for her son and for her mother. I work here and with the little that I make I am able to help with my mother's care, with her medicine, and anything else that she needs," Santos said through an interpreter.

Santos' attorney claims his client did nothing wrong and was never told why she was arrested. "She did not understand why they were taking her into custody, unless sitting down eating your lunch while brown or Latino is a crime in this country," said attorney Jose Perez. "She was never charged with any criminal activity or a crime at any time," he added.

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said Santos was handed over to ICE because she had an outstanding deportation order against her.

"When she spotted the deputies coming from a distance away she got up and ran. As a good patrol deputy that's a little bit of a red flag. Why did someone just get up and arbitrarily run away?", asked Jenkins, who says patrol deputies stopped Santos and asked for her I.D. When the deputies checked her background they discovered the outstanding order and contacted ICE.

ICE declined to comment on the individual cases but did provide a written statement.

"This administration is doing more than any previous administration to prioritize resources on criminal aliens who are threats to public safety, through smart policies and a focus on enforcing the law effectively. More than half of those removed last year – upwards of 195,000 – were convicted criminals, a 70 percent increase in removal of criminal immigrants from the previous administration," the statement said. "In order to better prioritize the agency’s limited resources on targeting criminals aliens and those that put public safety at risk, ICE has issued guidance for ICE law enforcement personnel and attorneys regarding their authority to exercise discretion when appropriate. The directive clearly states that the exercise of discretion is inappropriate in cases involving threats to public safety, national security and other agency priorities. This guidance also directs the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to ensure that victims of and witnesses to crimes are properly protected."

In the view of Santos' attorney, she is exactly the kind of illegal immigrant who should not be deported based on the administration's own policy. "Under the prosecutorial discretion guidelines that the White House and ICE announced in June and reiterated in August, they were looking to target, as they call it, felons or criminals. They were not targeting students or those not engaged in criminal behavior," said Perez.

WMAL will follow Roxana Santos' case and report on its outcome. By the end of the month she will either be on her way back to her native country or still in the U.S., trying to make enough money to support her baby son in El Salvador. Stay tuned to 105.9 and AM 630 WMAL and visit WMAL.com for updates.

http://www.wmal.com/Article.asp?id=2291926[/b]

Back up the ICE bus and take them all back home.

They should all be deported. Why is it these illegal aliens always whine about not separating them from the US born anchors, but have no problem leaving their non US born children behind in their birth countries, hmm?

It proves to me they only care about their kids when there's a profit to be made from them. Disgraceful!

you can fight aLL YOU want. I still say go the hell back home
I don't feel sorry for any of you Not only the mexico any other the country that came over go the hell back home
we don't have more money why the american can not get help & Obama is not going to be in the wh long so go back home
No amnesty