12 Arrested In Broadview For Blocking Bus In Demonstration To End Deportations
By aaroncynic in News on Nov 20, 2013 8:20PM
Activists temporarily blocked a bus outside the Broadview Detention Center yesterday, which contained about 50 undocumented immigrants set for deportation. About a dozen people affiliated with the group Undocumented Illinois locked themselves to each other to stop the bus, the latest in a series of actions from activist groups around the country calling for an end to deportations. Earlier this month, more than 100 protesters were cited for blocking traffic in front of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“All my son wanted was to be next to us. They didn’t even let me give them a hug goodbye. It’s not fair that President Obama has the power to stop deportations and keep this family together,” said Maria Luisa Sanchez, mother of Octavio Nava Cabrera, one of the deportees on the bus. According to organizers, more than 50 supporters chanted and sang as local police (many clad in riot gear) cut through the PVC locking the 12 activists together. Cabrera and Brigido Acosta Luis, another deportee on the bus, are “high priority,” because of their previous immigration history. Organizers say President Obama has the power to change that status and are urging him to do so to reunite families that have been separated by deportations.
Claudia Amaro, one of the “Dream 9,” a group of immigrants who were allowed to re-entry to the United States after being deported pending asylum requests, joined the protest in Broadview to support the group. In an interview with Chicagoist, Amaro said she wanted to show what the reality of the effect of deportations is on families. “This happens every day, every week, every month...families being separated,” she said. “We’re tired of nothing being done. This is not about politics, it’s about humans being separated.”