Rallies in cities across US decrying deportation
Rallies in cities across US decrying deportation
Originally published: April 5, 2014 3:15 PM
Updated: April 5, 2014 6:36 PM
By The Associated Press TERRY TANG (Associated Press)
PHOENIX - (AP) -- Immigration advocates and supporters rallied Saturday in cities across the country in a renewed effort to push President Barack Obama to put a freeze on deportations.
Organizers of the more than 50 planned "Day of Action" demonstrations said Obama has the executive power to stop deportations that separate immigrants living in the country illegally from their loved ones.
In Eloy, Ariz., more than 100 supporters converged in front of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center after journeying more than 60 miles from Phoenix.
Natally Cruz, an organizer with the grassroots group Puente Arizona, said many of the people in attendance have relatives who have been inside the facility for more than a year.
"We want President Obama and his administration to really hear our community members across the country, to understand we do not want one more person separated," said Cruz, who entered the U.S. at age 8 illegally with her parents. "One family every night goes to bed missing somebody in their family."
Many walked with signs saying "Not 1 More Deportation" and calling for deferred deportation action for all. The group included a woman whose son has been in the Eloy Detention Center for nearly three years and a woman who was arrested at her work and detained for two months, the group said.
The Eloy Police Department had about five officers monitoring the rally. Sgt. Brian Jerome said the demonstration was relatively peaceful with no arrests.
Amber Cargile, an ICE spokeswoman in Phoenix, said the agency respects the rights of people to protest outside its facilities.
"While we continue to work with Congress to enact commonsense immigration reform, ICE remains committed to sensible, effective immigration enforcement that focuses on its priorities, including convicted criminals and those apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States," Cargile said.
More than 50 people, including families with children, stood in front of a federal immigration office in New York City. Among them was 47-year-old Humayun Chowdhury, a cab driver who said his family suffered immensely when authorities held him for 14 months.
"I got out to my family because my community helped," said Chowdhury, who is from Bangladesh.
Chowdhury now has a permit to work in the U.S. and he hopes to get a green card in the future. His 14-year-old son, Maheen, said he was 11 when immigration authorities showed up to arrest his father at 5 a.m. According to Maheen, the separation put the entire family in a tailspin.
"Everything was a mess. We had trouble getting food. My mom just cried all the time. We had to sell our car for money," said Maheen Chowdhury, who was born in the U.S.
The Chowdhurys said they don't want others to suffer the same pain and that there should be a way for immigrants without criminal records to stay in the country.
In Hartford, Conn., dozens of immigrants gathered in front of a federal building after coming from 11 cities across the state. Many say they were angered into action by the refusal of Republicans in Congress to work on immigration reforms. Protesters included Jasmine Mendoza, of Norwalk, Conn., whose husband was deported after a routine traffic stop. Mendoza said she is raising their 8-month-old son alone.
Protests were planned in California a day after 23 demonstrators were arrested in San Francisco for blocking traffic in a major intersection.
In March, Obama asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to review enforcement practices to ease his administration's rate of deportations.
Under Obama's leadership, almost 2 million people have been removed from the U.S.
http://www.newsday.com/news/region-s...tion-1.7619270
CA - Immigration reform fuels demonstrations
BY DEEPA BHARATH and ROXANA KOPETMAN / STAFF WRITERS
Published: April 5, 2014 Updated: 8:45 p.m.
http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocre...6916i79.10.jpg
Raymond Herrera, left, who opposes illegal immigration, addresses Edwin Molina, 19, from the Orange County Dream Team, as immigration-reform activists faced off in front of the mission Saturday in San Juan Capistrano.
ISAAC ARJONILLA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Stories of families torn apart by deportations were juxtaposed against quilts bearing the images of men and women killed by undocumeted immigrants Saturday as parties on opposing sides of immigration reform conducted demonstrations in San Juan Capistrano and elsewhere in the county to make their voices heard.
Outside Mission San Juan Capistrano, members of We the People Rising, a Claremont-based group that opposes illegal immigration, held up the U.S. flag and banners that read “Stop Illegal Immigration,” “Hire Americans” and “Secure the Border.”
Across the street stood a group of Latino immigration activists holding a large banner that read “Undocumented and Unafraid in South Orange County.” Members of that group shouted, “Not one more,” demanding an end to deportations of illegal immigrants.
“We’re just immigrant youth from San Juan Capistrano who are here to ask the government to pass comprehensive immigration reform instead of tearing families apart,” Ana Karen Rosal said.
Members of the Orange County Dream Team, who have temporary legal residency under a program that defers deportation for young people, staged similar events in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano as part of a “Day of Action” with events by various groups participating in the Not One More campaign nationwide.
Opponents of the campaign held their rally in San Juan Capistrano.
Steve Nelson, a San Juan Capistrano resident, said he came to help vocalize the need for secure borders. “All we’re asking is that the government enforce the law and end illegal immigration,” he said. “Why should we be labeled as racists and xenophobes?”
Robert McDearmon, a San Clemente resident, said he isn’t against legal immigrants making the United States home.
“But don’t jump in the front of the line and don’t break the law,” he said. “Illegal immigrants are taking jobs our veterans should have, and they are kicking up taxes here in California. I don’t blame the people who came to this country looking for a better life. I blame our government for not enforcing the law.”
McDearmon and at least 10 others displayed a “stolen lives quilt” to honor American citizens killed by people who are living in the United States States illegally. Members of We the People Rising held signs and quilts, which are part of a Remembrance Project based in Houston.
Earlier on Saturday, members of the Anaheim/Fullerton Dream Team held up banners as they stood on an overpass at Harbor Boulevard and Ball Road near Disneyland.
Ricardo Muniz, 25, a business major at Fullerton College, said the group is fighting “to restore justice, peace and unity.”
“We’re here to promote awareness about unnecessary and inhumane deportations of hard-working people,” he said.
On Saturday morning, members of the Orange County Dream Team, headed by Hairo Cortez, held a rally outside the locked Garden Grove office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, calling for an end to deportations and urging the congresswoman to take a leadership role in asking President Barack Obama to apply deferred-action status to all immigrants living in the United States illegally.
“We would like her to openly stand up and fight for us,” he said. “We hope it doesn’t take two million more deportations for this horrible situation to change. (Sanchez) needs to show some leadership, now.”
Cortez was referring to the number of estimated deportations tallied by the Obama administration.
Sanchez said in an email Friday that she is glad Obama has “emphasized prosecutorial discretion in these cases” and has called for a review of deportation policies.
“The law is the law, but there is a difference between a violent felon and a mother who filled out her paperwork incorrectly,” Sanchez said.
She said she will continue to support “alternative detentions for nonviolent offenders and for humane and respectful short-term detention standards.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/i...tions-san.html
NC--Group seeks end to deportations of illegal immigrants
Group seeks end to deportations
Posted 8:50 p.m. yesterday
http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/...37-640x360.jpg
http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/.../1-337x450.jpg
Raleigh, N.C. — Across North Carolina Saturday, people seeking a change to federal immigration policy held rallies. "Not One More Deportation" events took place outside the Wake County Justice Center and the Durham Police Department.
Organizers sought to pressure President Barack Obama to use an executive order to stop deportations of illegal immigrants.
“We know the President doesn’t have to wait for Congress to use his executive power to stop the suffering of our communities,” said Yolanda Zavala, one of the event organizers. “He can expand the deferred action program he created for immigrant youth and stop deportations immediately.”
Rallies were also held in Asheville and Charlotte.
http://www.wral.com/group-seeks-end-...ions/13544171/
