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Apr 25, 2014 4:13pm

Dozens of protesters marched on Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters today to call attention to the rate of deportations during his Barack Obamas presidency.

At the same time, House Speaker John Boehner created a dose of optimism when he emphasized he has not given up on efforts to move immigration reform through the lower chamber this year.

Jacinta Gonzalez, a lead organizer with the Congress of Laborers, joined about 50 other demonstrators, many facing deportation themselves, in a peaceful protest, urging the president to use his executive powers to end deportations.

President Obama has been promising immigration reform but what he has given the people is actually record number of deportations and violations of their civil rights, Gonzalez told ABC News. Were continuing to demand that he stop deportations. He has the power to do so, he has the moral authority that he should be doing this, and so thats our core demand.

Earlier this month, Obama reportedly ruled out taking executive action himself to overhaul the countrys immigration laws, particularly with regard to the enforcement of deportations.

Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement booted almost 400,000 immigration violators out of the country, a number Gonzalez disputes as inaccurate.

ICE is a rogue agency, Gonzalez charged. Its been impossible to keep them accountable. They have been lying on their numbers, lying on their tactics, and were here to ask for justice.

In FY2013, ICE reports that it conducted a total of 368,644 removals, 235,093 of whom were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The rest, 133,551, were caught inside nations borders.

Gonzalez and her fellow activists are particularly upset over Criminal Alien Removal Initiative [CARI], a pilot program in New Orleans that was created by the Obama administration to apprehend undocumented immigrants with violent criminal records. ICE claims 60 percent of its deportations were conducted on individuals previously been convicted of a criminal offense.

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