Group calls for halt on deportations
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Immigration Forum
News 2 takes a look into the Lowcountry's view on the Immigration Reform. Tara Lynn reports.
President elect Barack Obama has 17 more days until he’s officially in office, but that’s not keeping some from already calling on him to take action on immigration reform.
Maria Aguirre-Fuentes came to the United States 11 years ago following her American Dream of prosperity.
While her 3 children are in the states with her, her parents are not.
She came to volunteer at this Immigration Reform Forum in downtown Charleston to change that.
“We want there to be a solution so we can be like everybody else in this country and succeed with our dreams,” she told News 2 with the help of a translator.
More than 300 people like Aguirre-Fuentes came to add their name to a list to be presented to President Elect Barack Obama. Their goal: to persuade the president elect to place a moratorium on deportation until congress can reform immigration laws. Famlia Latina Unida Chicago Organizer Emma Lozano says the current laws are unjust.
“There are U.S. citizens that have married people from other countries. They have every right to fall in love with whomever they please. They should be able to live with them in their country and their children should be able to stay with them,” she explained.
But not everyone agrees. Just this year South Carolina lawmakers passed one of the country’s strictest immigration laws and the state has ignored calls to halt immigration raids after officers arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants at a poultry plant in the upstate.
Still many like Aguirre-Fuentes are placing their trust in the president elect to make a change to keep families together and make legalization easier in America.
“Tenemos confiar en el presidente Barack Obama,” she said.
Last summer Governor Mark Sanford signed a new bill that now requires all employers to make sure their workers are legally in the country.
State lawmakers said it was a measure to protect jobs and the economy in the state.
The law went into affect January first.
The immigration forum continues Sunday. It’s from two to five in the afternoon at the International Longshoreman’s Hall in downtown Charleston.
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