Posted on November 20, 2013

Illegal Immigrants Blockade Atlanta Office to Halt Deportations

Stephen Dinan, Washington Times, November 19, 2013

Illegal immigrants blockaded a federal office that handles deportations in Atlanta on Tuesday morning, and later in the day others in Chicago chained themselves to the wheels of a bus they said was headed to the airport on a deportation run.

The moves were designed to call attention to President Obama’s deportation policies, which the immigrant-rights activists say have gone too far. They want the president to use executive authority to stop almost all deportations.

“Undocumented, unafraid,” the protesters chanted in Atlanta. “No papers, no fear.”

Late last week, the Obama administration said it would allow illegal-immigrant relatives of U.S. troops and veterans to apply for “parole in place,” which would allow them to remain in the country. The activists Tuesday said they want the same considerations for all illegal immigrants.

“If the president can stop the deportations of military families, he can stop breaking apart other families as well,” one of the Atlanta protesters, Marisela Medina, said in a statement issued by the organizers as the protest was underway. “All my children think about is the day I could be taken away. Instead, the president should grant relief to my family and all families. What is he waiting for?”

Similar protests have hindered immigration authorities in Arizona, California and Louisiana in recent months. They are all part of the Not One More campaign.

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