Hispanic Leaders Urge Obama to Tackle Immigration Reform

CHICAGO (AFP) December 8, 2008 — Hispanic leaders urged president-elect Barack Obama to issue a moratorium on immigration raids and deportations at a rally in Chicago Saturday.

"President-elect Barack Obama knows the immigration system is broken and we understand and believe he wants to fix it," said US Representative Luis Gutierrez.

"We're ready to create the political support, the grassroots support that (Obama) needs."

Despite the challenges he faces in dealing with two wars and an economic crisis, it appears as though Obama considers immigration reform a priority, Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez has spoken to Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, four times in the past two weeks and will be meeting with Obama in the coming days to discuss the issue.

"We believe that as we go to the American people and we shatter the myths about our broken immigration system that one of the most powerful symbols we have is the sanctity of marriage ... and that government should not be destroying families" separating family members with deportations, Gutierrez said.

The US Congress failed to pass the most recent version of sweeping immigration legislation in 2007, which would have given legal status and a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

Obama had been involved in negotiations over the text and immigration reform earned broad support from both Obama and Republican rival John McCain on the 2008 campaign trail.

But in the final months before the election, immigration swiftly took a back seat to the deepening and more pressing economic crisis.

Immigration rights activists are planning a major march on Washington on January 21, the day after Obama is sworn in as the 44th US president, to call attention back to the issue.

Faith leaders across the country are also getting involved and are inviting families torn apart by deportations to speak to their congregations.

"It's time for a revolution," pastor Freddy Santiago told 1,500 people gathered at Rebano Companerismo Cristiano church in the heart of a mostly Hispanic Chicago neighborhood.

"Enough is enough! We will not allow our families to be separated or oppressed."

Yaritza Viveros, 13, sobbed as she spoke to the Chicago rally of her fears that she could come home from school to find her parents snatched in an immigration raid.

Viveros was born in the United States to undocumented parents and is a US citizen.

"I am young, and am against the terror from immigration," she told the crowd. "Many families are separated because of immigration and we have to stop the raids that destroy our families."

Brian Wilkins, whose family has lived in the United States for generations, also broke down as he spoke of he was forced to move to Buglaria because his wife and her family were being deported.

He said his father and brother in law are being held in a Wisconsin detention center like "criminals" when all they did wrong was pick bad lawyers.

"We as Americans should be able to have the family we love next to us," he said. "It's not just Hispanic people, it's all people who are being affected. Our broken laws should be fixed."