by Marvin Ramírez
Immigrants advocates protest in front of the federal building for the lack of a just immigration policy.
While Obama show is no longer playing to wildly enthusiastic audiences who have realized that he is merely the continuation of George W. Bush’s policies, and has faltered to many of his campaign promises, while some who were clapping a few months ago are now sitting on their hands, or even booing the star performer, there are still some who still keep some hope on him.
They are the nation’s immigrant community, most of who still have relatives in the country without an immigration status and living in the shadows while working for little to support their families, many of them U.S. citizens.
Approximately 20 people from a local immigration advocate group, called SFOP, which congregates religious, school, and community centers, held a National Day of Action for Immigrants Rights in front of the Federal Building on June 16, “to tell President Obama to keep his campaign promises for the creation of a comprehensive immigration reform this year.”
The event was held a day before President Obama would be meeting at the White House with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders on immigration reform, which has been delayed for a second time since he took office in January.
Under a blowing wind so strong that it looked like a huracan was coming on them, the men, women, and children held their skirts and hats tight, while praying and reading poems, including the reading of a story of 16-year-old Yvette Jimenez-Mota, who in the middle of a night in December 2008, thought she had heard voices of people in her house, but went back to sleep thinking she was only dreaming.
Actually, she was not dreaming.
When Jimenez-Mota woke up in the morning, her life had changed, like in the movie The Wizzard of Oz, where a hurricane sends Dorothy away in her sleep, and she finds herself in another – dreamy – world. The world she known previously, was gone.
When she woke up, Jimenez-Mota’s father was gone. He had been taken away by the immigration service for lack of immigration documents. Her mother, later on, was summoned up to the immigration center – under false pretense – to be booked and have placed an ankle bracelet, and theb released under strict supervision, like a criminal, according to the letter.
Working part-time, the 16-year-old, with her mother ‘officially’ unemployed, and the father in Mexico, Jimena-Mota is the sole provider for both of them.
“My dad isn’t here to support us; we are homeless and just eating rise and beans because we don’t have enough to make ends meet,” she says in the letter, which was shared during the vigil. The audience was asked to contribute with financial help for the mother and daughter.
The group also accused the city for confiscating cars from the undocumented, which is unconstitutional. And they were right, although the cop who everyday confiscates vehicles seems not to care so much about the Constitution.
The Amendment V to the Constitution of the United States, states it very clearly: “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Due process means that only after a party has been through a court process, and if the judge orders the car confiscated for a good cause, can a private property be taken away.
According to critics, Obama, as the President, has the power to stop immigration
raids immediately by decree, but has not done it because those behind him– the real power behind the power – do not let him.
During his first 100 days of his presidency, Obama has bailed out bankers PMand big corporations on the backs of the people – meaning that every penny that has been borrowed the taxpayers will foot the bill. The money he has given away, is borrowed from the private banking conglomerate, the Federal Reserve Bank, which prints the dollar (Federal Reserve Notes) and then lends it to the government.
For those who never watch alternative media, Obama’s critic recommend to watch a video called The Obama’s Deception, which was released in March. It brings to light who Obama really works for, and details his plans commanded by a corrupt banking elite. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7886780711843120756.
