Contact: B. Loewe, NDLON, 773.791.4668, bloewe@ndlon.org
December 19, 2013 – Los Angeles, CA
In response to the release of ICE’s 2013 deportation statistics, representatives of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following:
“People on all sides will look at these numbers with a great deal of skepticism. It’s easy for the Administration to say that those deported fit their priorities when this White House has practically made sneezing a criminal act for immigrants. These numbers may represent political calculus for the beltway but for immigrant families, they represent our parents, siblings, and loved ones,” explains Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director. “The five years of criminalization the President has overseen blankets immigrant communities with suspicion and causes people to live in fear. Until the historic mistake of entwining local police with immigration enforcement is corrected, the country will face a crisis of safety in our communities, confidence in the President, and separation in our families.”
Marisa Franco, National Organizer, adds, “The biggest fear of immigrant families is becoming a number in the statistics released today. No matter what direction the numbers go in, the fear entrenched in people’s lives won’t be removed until the threat is eliminated and that can only be done by a President who recognizes the error of his ways and reverses course on the dragnet he’s built.”