Latinos, immigrants and their allies are set to rally today, Tuesday August 16 in cities across the nation and deliver thousands of petitions to President Obama’s national campaign headquarters in Chicago and other locales as part of a National Day of Action. They will be expressing their outrage for Obama’s recent and controversial decision to aggressively expand the use of local police officers as immigration agents through the highly controversial federal program know as Secure Communities or S-Comm.
Following his record-breaking deportation of more than 1 million immigrants since taking office in 2009, President Obama is taking steps that will wreak even greater havoc and devastation on immigrant communities. The numerous organizations leading Tuesday’s actions are demanding that President Obama bring an immediate end to S-Comm.
“In light of recent statistics which show that crime in the U.S has actually decreased, it is obvious that the Secure Communities program has a different agenda than what it portrays—to deport hard working people and break up families,” stated Oscar Chacon from The National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities, “ The Obama Administration should use all its resources and political capital to create well paid jobs for everyone instead of wasting taxpayer’s money in a misguided program such as S-Comm,” concluded Mr. Chacon.
“We reject the negative perception that has been portrayed of our communities; we are not criminals. By enforcing S-Comm, the Obama Administration only reinforces the misguided notion that immigrants are a threat to this society and therefore should be expelled,” declared Patricia Montes, Executive Director of Centro Presente, a Massachusetts-based community organization and a NALACC board member. “We will continue to speak out and fight back against S-Comm and other punitive measures targeted at our communities,” she concluded.
“We are tired of President Obama’s double talk insisting that his administration is not concerned with removing hardworking people trying to feed their families,” declared Claudia Lucero, President of Durango Unido and NALACC’s board member, “His persistence in implementing inhumane immigration programs such as S-Comm demonstrates just the opposite. These attacks against immigrants must stop,” added Ms. Lucero. “The President must understand that beneficial actions to our communities speak much louder than promises,” concluded Ms. Lucero.
Latinos taking action against S-Comm join the already strong opposition to this program from law enforcement officials, communities and elected officials, including governors like Pat Quinn of Illinois, Andrew Cuomo of New York and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. The concerns surrounding the negative impact of S-Comm on local police forces and community relations are being completely disregarded by the Obama Administration.
Thousands of petitions to end SCOMM, collected by Presente.org, will be delivered on Tuesday at 11:25 am to national headquarters of the Obama Campaign in Chicago. The national Obama Campaign headquarters and Democratic Party offices in cities throughout the country will also be the site of rallies and petition deliveries.
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