Because Immigrants’ Rights are Civil Rights

Last May Day, hundreds of Fresno residents took to the streets to ask for a path to citizenship for the 11 million people forced to live in the shadows by our broken immigration system. There was momentum in Congress for comprehensive immigration and the Senate later managed to approve a comprehensive immigration reform bill. We were all so hopeful.

Fast-forward one year later: Congress has stalled immigration reform, while President Obama has set a new record for the number of deportations carried out by any president in the history of the United States.

>> May Day 2014: Know Your Rights, Rally, & March

But deporting more than two million people over the course of five years is not a milestone to brag about, and neither is crushing two million dreams.

Two million mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, neighbors, and friends have been torn from their communities and homes. All for what? Most of the people deported didn’t even have a criminal record or if they did, it was only for minor infractions – like driving without a license.

As someone who frequently delivers “Know Your Rights” workshops to vulnerable members of the Fresno community, I was stunned when I found out that immigrants are often denied fundamental rights, like due process, in their deportation cases.

For example, last year alone, more than two-thirds of the people deported by the Obama administration never even got a chance to fight their case before an immigration judge. To me, this is completely unacceptable.

So today, on this May Day, we are ready to stand up against theses senseless deportations. We are going to make our voices heard:

!Aquí estamos y no nos vamos!

The time is now to put an end to these senseless deportations that are tearing our communities apart.

Stephanie Kamey is the Central Valley Regional Organizer with the ACLU of Northern California.