Immigration advocates gathered at Baruch College in New York last week to call on President Obama to make use of his executive authority to achieve a reform of the immigration laws in the United States, according to the New York Daily News. The event, entitled New Yorkers for Real Immigration Reform, was attended by many people who shared their stories about how their families had been torn apart by deportations.
“Every day, people live in fear that their families will be destroyed because they or someone else will be deported,” says undocumented immigrant Ravi Ragbir, who is the New Sanctuary Coalition’s executive director. “It is inhumane to live not knowing if your father, mother, brother or sister will be captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The President has to act now and give us administrative relief to stop this inhumanity.”
The New York Immigration Coalition is hoping that President Obama will use his executive powers to reverse deportations and allow families to stay together. Thousands of underage immigrants taken into custody at the border between the United States and Mexico are currently waiting for immigration hearings to decide their fate.
Representative Tammy Duckworth says that immigration reform needs to be fair, humane and practical, adding that the national debt will be cut by around $1tn if immigration reform is passed as a result of the contribution that immigrants make to the US economy.