For Immediate Release
 //
Tuesday, June 24, 2016
Contact: Armando Carmona, armando@ndlon.org, (323) 250-3018

Immigrant Youth Join Day Laborers to Protest Pres. Obama’s Response to Supreme Court Ruling  

Palo Alto, CA–On Friday morning, immigrant youth joined a group of day laborers at Stanford University to protest President Obama’s response to the Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Texas (the DAPA decision).  The President, who arrived at Stanford University for the 2016 Global Summit on Entrepreneurship, made remarks on Thursday about the Supreme Court’s refusal to lift the injunction blocking DAPA and the extension of DACA.

“The President’s response was offensive. We are looking at nearly 3 million deportations by year’s end, inaction is not an option,” said Claudia Bautista, regional organizer for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the ICE out of CA coalition.

“The White House could drastically reduce deportation rates, clarifying that they are cancelled for at least those eligible for DAPA.  He can get ICE agents out of our mass incarceration system by ending his disastrous jail deportation policy.   He can provide status for Central American refugees.  He can end trans and family detention. He can do all of these things, but he chooses not to.”

“The President’s speech yesterday shows us that he continues to see immigrants and immigrant communities as chess pieces in a political game,” added Marcela Hernandez of the Immigrant Youth Coalition (IYC) and the ICE out of CA coalition. “The continued criminalization and the detention of trans women must stop. Continuing to utilized harmful terms such as “criminals” and “gang-bangers” to describe our community members strips the humanity of a person. These are our family members and they deserve a second chance.”

“President Obama has options to provide relief, but is instead choosing to maintain and expand the cruel machinery that criminalizes immigrants and deports our community,” added Hernandez.

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