Protesters arrested at McCain's office amid call for new DACA legislation
Protesters arrested at McCain's office amid call for new DACA legislation
Blaine McCormick, The Republic | azcentral.com
Published 4:14 p.m. MT Dec. 4, 2017 | Updated 4:19 p.m. MT Dec. 4, 2017
Protesters chant, "No dream, no deal," during a sit-in at Arizona Sen. John McCain's office in Phoenix on Dec. 4, 2017. Blaine McCormick/azcentral.com
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(Photo: Blaine McCormick/The Republic)
Members of a group calling for Congress to pass a Dream Act were arrested Monday afternoon at Sen. John McCain's Phoenix office.
Seven protesters, six men and one woman, were among about 40 people protesting at the senator's office. Phoenix police said those arrested are facing trespassing charges.
The protest was organized in an effort to urge McCain to sign a pledge asking Congress to adopt the Dream Act to protect people who were brought into the country illegally as children.
The protest was among similar protests at congressional offices across the country Monday.
Activists are asking senators to oppose any omnibus spending bill that does not include a Dream Act.
In September, President Trump announced he would end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program enacted by President Obama that offers temporary deportation protection and work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/abc...4-IMG-6421.JPGA sign made by protesters is displayed outside Sen. John McCain's office in Phoenix on Dec. 4, 2017. (Photo: Blaine McCormick/The Republic)
Trump said he would give Congress a six-month window to extend some level of protection to those affected. Congress has yet to act.
About 800,000 people, ofthen called "dreamers," currently are covered under the program, including nearly 28,000 in Arizona.
Belen Sisa, 23, advocacy director of the Undocumented Students for Education Equity, was among the protesters asking McCain to sign the pledge.
"Arizona has one of the largest DACA recipient populations and Senator McCain continues to say that he supports us but will not take action," Sisa said.
"His inaction means that he is taking the side of those who have taken the program away and do not care that we are your neighbors, we are your co-workers and we are students."
Sisa, an Arizona State University student, originally is from Argentina but came to the United States when she was 6.
She was arrested in early November during an organized protest in Washington, D.C., urging Congress to act.
Seven people were arrested at Sen. John McCain's office in Phoenix on Dec. 4, 2017, during a protest of omnibus spending bills that do not include a Dream Act.
Among those arrested Monday in Phoenix was Sisa's father, Dan O'Neal. O'Neal was among those who sat on the floor in front of McCain's office door at an office building a 22nd Street and Camelback Road.
"We want representatives to vote no on the spending bill unless the Dream Act is attached," O'Neal said before his arrest. "Totally insane to deport (dreamers) and not what America stands for, we are a better country."
When protesters first entered the building, they chanted, "No justice, no peace" and "No dream, no deal.''
Those who were sitting in during the protest, like O'Neal, insisted that they would not leave until they had a response.
They eventually were let out of the office in handcuffs through a back exit.
Among the protesters were members of advocacy groups, college students and college graduates in the work force who could face possible deportation.
Adonias Arevalo, 26, is a DACA beneficiary who said his work permit will expire in about one year. Originally from El Salvador, Arevalo could face possible deportation back to his native country where his father was killed when Arevalo was 11.
"For me, a deportation means a death sentence." Arevalo said. "Going back to a home country where I run away from and have to bury my dad."
McCain's office did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking comment Monday.
He has has previously said he would like to see DACA addressed as part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
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