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Latino group holds welcome rally for President Obama

By Ben Lockhart

April 2nd, 2015 @ 10:43pm

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SALT LAKE CITY Several dozen immigrants and their supporters met in Liberty Park on Thursday to give speeches welcoming President Barack Obama to Utah and praising his efforts to enact immigration reform.

The rally was staged by Proyecto Latino de Utah, an advocacy organization for the Latino community in the state. Tony Yapias, director of the group, said he wants President Obama to understand there is a sizable Latino population in Utah that supports the executive actions on immigration he issued in November.

"We know executive actions work, Yapias said. "We know families are more prosperous when theyre paying taxes, going to school, getting an education.

Obamas most recent executive actions, issued Nov. 20, would defer the deportations of immigrants under 30 years old who came to the United States as children. They would also make provisions for immigrants who pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math degrees and who invest while they are in the United States.

Deferred deportations of young immigrants were blocked by a federal judge in February. A coalition of 26 states oppose Obamas orders and hope to defeat it in a lawsuit that argues the order exceed his constitutional authority.

Yapias said he is disappointed Utah is among that those who joined the coalition and called on Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes to remove Utah from that group.

Continued here:
Latino group holds welcome rally for President Obama

Immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas is calling on Western North Carolinians to redefine what it means to be an American. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker spoke to a packed house at Warren Wilson College Tuesday night, receiving a standing ovation.(Photo: Warren Wilson College / Special to the Citizen-Times)

SWANNANOA Immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas is calling on Western North Carolina to redefine what it means to be an American.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker spoke to a packed house at Warren Wilson College Tuesday night, receiving a standing ovation.

Vargas is one of the most high-profile, undocumented immigrants in the country.

The challenge is to connect the struggle of immigrants today with the historical narrative of immigration in America, Vargas told a crowd of more than 350 people.

The narrative needs to be modified, he said. The question should be asked of white America: Where are you from?

"So long as people call us illegal, so long as they obsess over the physical border, not the border in our minds, nothing is going to change," said Vargas, who urged people of all races and ethnicities to join together and broaden the immigration debate.

"A new South is being born, and how we make that as inclusive as possible, I think that is the challenge," he said.

North Carolina's immigrant population rose from 1.7 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 2013, according to the Immigration Policy Center. That year, the state was home to at least 750,000 immigrants, nearly 32 percent of whom were naturalized U.S. citizens.

Unauthorized immigrants made up around 3.6 percent of the state's population, or 350,000 people, in 2012, according to data from the Pew Hispanic Center.

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Immigration reform activist calls on WNC to redefine 'American'

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About 25 women held in San Antonios Karnes County immigration detention center are on a hunger strike, according to an advocacy group and media reports. The women, some of whom have reportedly been in custody for almost a year, are seeking the release of themselves and their children.

Most of the women were detained following last years border surge when tens of thousands of Central American women and children illegally crossed the Rio Grande and then claimed asylum, the Houston Chronicle reports. The hunger strike is the groups protest of the Obama administrations decision to detain them.

"We will fight until we are granted our liberty. We're tired of the treatment we're receiving here," Kenia, a Honduran detainee who did not give her last name, told the Houston Chronicle by phone from the detention center. "Our children are all losing weight because they've lost their appetites. It's like we're living in a jail."

Estimates from the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICE) said the size of the original group of striking women ranged anywhere from 40 to 80 women. Some women were held in isolation and the number dropped.

A letter released by the women on Tuesday outlined the motivation of the group and the reasoning behind the hunger strike. You should know that this is only the beginning and we will notstop until we achieve our objectives. This strike will continue until every one of us is freed, the letter read, according to a copy released by grassrootsleadership.org. We deserve to be treated with some dignity and that our rights, to the immigration process, be respected.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Tuesday it was not aware of a strike but was investigating if a member of a nonprofit encouraged a hunger strike protest, according to reports. Geo Group Inc., which operates the facility, released a statement on its quality of care.

The Karnes County Residential Center provides high quality care in a safe, clean, and family friendly environment, and on site U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel provide direct oversight to ensure compliance with ICE's Family Residential Standard, the statement read. Our company has consistently, strongly denied allegations to the contrary.

Geo Group Inc. had previously been under investigation for sexual misconduct by employees at the Karnes County immigration detention center. The Department of Home Securitys Office of Inspector General announced in February it found no evidence of sexual misconduct.

Link:
Immigration Reform 2015: Women Reportedly On Hunger Strike In Texas Immigration Detention Center