NBC News
By Suzanne Gamboa
July 10, 2015
The
legal arguments inside the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on
President Barack Obama's immigration executive action are expected to
draw heavy protests and
demonstrations on Friday.
Immigration
activists, labor leaders and others have been planning to be on site in
New Orleans to protest the attempt by 26 states that sued to stop the
actions and to
support the so-called DACA and DAPA programs that could shield millions
from deportation and allow them to work. Organizers were projecting
about 500 demonstrators.
The
New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) planned to
gather hundreds to march from the 5th Circuit Court to Immigration and
Customs Enforcement headquarters
in the city to protest raids by ICE as well as deportations.
"We
can't wait to secure DAPA in the courts while ICE is on our doorsteps
every day," said Fernando Lopez, an organizer with the NOWCRJ's Congress
of Day Laborers. "The
president took action because undocumented workers and families took
brave action in the streets."
Groups
that make up the Fair Immigration Reform Movement were to travel in
buses from 20 states to demonstrate. Buses were traveling from Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland,
Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, and Washington State.
In a related hearing in April, protests outside the courthouse were so loud their chants could be heard in the courtroom.
Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., planned to attend the hearing.
"I
want to be there to hear the arguments because the outcome of this case
and its appeals will impact millions of people in the United States,
and not just immigrants
and their families," Gutierrez told NBC News.
"The
policy is right ... because it focuses enforcement on bad actors, it
makes immigrants come forward and take responsibility for being here and
gives them a way to
keep their families with U.S. citizen children together," Gutierrez
said.
The
states have challenged Obama's actions as going beyond the limits of
his presidential authority, but the administration has said the programs
are part of its immigrant
enforcement strategy to use limited resources to seek out immigrants
that are threats to public safety and national security.
Although
the arguments are this week, a decision could take months and an appeal
is expected regardless of the outcome. That is likely to push the issue
further into the
2016 presidential race in which candidates already have been taking
sides on Obama's action.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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