Urging Obama to Stand on the Side of Love with Immigrant Families
by Daryl Bridges, Standing on the Side of Love organizer
O
n May 17th, about forty community and immigrant allies, including UUs, members of MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition), the Boston New Sanctuary Movement, and others gathered outside of President Obama’s fundraising dinner in Boston. Together we held aloft our collections of banners with such phrases as “Obama: End S-Comm!” “President Obama, Stop ICE!” and, of course, Standing on the Side of Love.
We stood near the line of donors of waiting to go in, our signs held up as it gently rained and chanted “No more raids and deportations!”. People passing by stopped to find out what our rally was all about. We explained that while President Obama says he supports immigration reform he is also supporting ICE programs, such as Secure Communities, that are detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants with no criminal record who are trying to keep their families together. We were calling on the President to institute a moratorium on ICE ACCESS programs.
As we were walking back to the subway station a waiter in a nearby restaurant hurried outside to ask us what we wanted. A member of the Boston New Sanctuary Movement and I explained that we were calling on President Obama to end the ICE raids and Secure Communities program. The waiter’s face broke into a broad smile and he said, “Good! We love our immigrants here in Boston. That’s the American way.”
Take Action! Urge Pres. Obama to use his administrative powers to put an end to inhumane immigration laws and policies that separate children from their parents and remove promising students from the only country they have known.
