(Newswire.net — August 30, 2014) — Dozens of labor and immigrant leaders, were arrested on Thursday, while staging a sit-down rally to demand protection from deportation for millions of illegal immigrants.
The central goal of the protests was to get President Barack Obama to bypass a deadlocked Congress and issue an executive order.
“Mr. President, it is time to use your legal authority and to fulfill your responsibilities” said organizer and executive director of the immigrant advocate group Casa de Maryland and Casa de Virginia, Gustavo Torres.
In a statement released today, the Rev. Peter Morales, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, shared: “The Unitarian Universalist Association stands on the side of love with both the 11 million immigrants living in this country with no hope of becoming US citizens and the children from Central America fleeing violence in their own countries”
“With today’s action, we call upon President Obama to use the power of the presidency to keep families together by halting deportations and expanding deferred action. Stop the deportations, stop this injustice”, said Rev. Morales.
The organizers first met in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in a meeting that was closed to press. From there, they marched to Lafayette Park and held a rally across from the White House. Shortly after, protesters were photographed, placed in plastic handcuffs and taken into custody.
The group of about 100 or so protesters, including Bishop Carcaño and retired Bishop Jack Meadors planted themselves in front of the White House, waited for the arrests to happen.
Many of the protesters smiled and laughed as they were taken into custody, and the police treated the arrests like it was a routine matter. According to The Washington Post, the burden inflicted on the protesters amounted to a few hours in detention and a $50 fine.
At least some of those arrested were illegal immigrants (one of them gave a speech through a translator at the rally), but there have been no media reports indicating that any of them faced deportation.
The rally was triggered as President Obama has criticized the House for failing to pass a Senate comprehensive immigration reform package that would have bestowed legal status on some 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, while also providing more border protection.
“I don’t think anybody thinks that Congress is going to act in the short term, but hope springs eternal that after the midterm elections they may act”, President said.
The Obama administration said that they are concentrating its deportation efforts on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, but advocates, such as Torres and Gutierrez, say that thousands of illegal immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding workers and parents, have also been deported, dividing families who have been in the United States for years.
Most of the mainstream media coverage of the arrests focused in particular on the recent surge of minors crossing the US-Mexico border. ABC News claimed the arrested individuals were protesting “the Obama administration’s response to the sudden surge of illegal immigrants across the border with Mexico.” In actuality, the protest was scheduled long before the mass surge of immigrant children became a hot button political issue.