PBO & Michelle visit with Immigration Protestors in D.C. Tent~Solidarity~ Si se Puede

[Cha]

Last edited Fri Nov 29, 2013, 06:29 PM - Edit history (2)

President Obama listens to hunger striker Eliseo Medina as he and the First Lady visit with immigration protesters in their tent on the Washingon Mall November 29. Since November 12, immigration advocates comprising “Fast for Families” have abstained from food as they call on congress to take up action on the immigration issue.


Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur
Follow This @BarackObama tweet is pasted outside the Fast For Families tent: 7:26 AM - 29 Nov 2013
58 Retweets 20 favorites ReplyRetweetFavorite




Fast4Families @fast4families
Follow Following the inspirational visit of President @BarackObama we're delighted to welcome Kathleen Kennedy to the tent
8:17 AM - 29 Nov 2013
34 Retweets 15 favorites ReplyRetweetFavorite

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/11/29/solidarity-2/



http://fast4families.org/

Bless their determined loving hearts

[Cha]

1. Kick for Immigration Reform!

[Cha]

2. Kick..

[pampango]

3. Very nice. Thanks for finding and posting. n/t

[Cha]

5. You're most Welcome, pampango!

[tina tron]

4. Would it have been so hard for him to have met with Occupy?

That would have been nice.

[treestar]

8. He supports immigration reform

That's a specific thing.

[uponit7771]

18. Yes, putting a political figure on occupy would've made it easy to connect PBO with FUD...

...I would've stayed far away and persuaded them to become an inducer of policy

[Whisp]

6. K&R!

[Cha]

7. Thanks, Whisp!

[struggle4progress]

9. Our President really is a community organizer at heart!

I'm still trying to guess the expression on Michelle's face: mebbe "I know we're doing the right thing -- but it's a bit colder out here than I thought it would be, back when I was telling Barack we really should do this"

They coulda just stayed cozy in that big White House

[Hekate]

10. KnR. Their hearts are in the right place, and they set a good example for us all, don't they?

[Cali_Democrat]

11. K&R

[Cha]

12. 1:33am KICK!

[CorrectOfCenter]

13. We couldn't ask for a better President.

It is evidenced in his actions.

[eomer]

14. President Obama has deported more people than any previous president, approaching 2 million.

This represents a huge number of families destroyed, parents torn from children, perhaps for life.

And his administration goes along with a questionable interpretation of law that mandates 34,000 people be detained in immigrant detention beds every day. This is causing ICE to resort to detestable tactics in order to deliver the human cargo to satisfy the appetite of the prison industrial complex. Senators actually squabble in public over detainees to be brought to the profit-based detention centers in their state rather than a neighboring one - with no motivation at all other than the profits of corporations that contribute to them.

This whole system is outrageously corrupt. I could and do ask for better policies than these.

[ucrdem]

15. DACA:

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

On June 15, 2012, President Obama signed a memo calling for deferred action for certain undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children and have pursued education or military service here. Applications under the program which is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) begin on August 15, 2012.

- See more at: http://immigrationequality.org/issues/immigration-basics/daca/#sthash.cqcfHs9V.dpuf

DACA delays legal action against undocumented teens and young adults for two years and give them work permits. Yes, comprehensive immigration reform is necessary, but Obama can't unilaterally make sweeping changes in the law, even if the country is behind him as it seems to be. He needs the support of Congress and that's what he's been working on getting for some time now, including over his Thanksgiving vacation as seen in this thread.

p.s. thanks Cha!

[eomer]

16. Yes, DACA - my kids and I know many Dreamers. I've volunteered at DACA clinics.

I applaud DACA. But it is a very small number of people in the context of the overall problem. And there is a great deal of discretion in the system that the president can use. President Obama has used that discretion in order to drastically increase deportations and to increase the number of people in detention. These did not result from a change in the law but rather changes in the way the Executive Branch (ultimately under the orders of the President) uses its discretion.

[ucrdem]

17. If you know many Dreamers isn't that a sign that DACA is having an impact?

Your own experience seems to contradict your claims, no? Obama didn't establish an entirely new federal department to see to deportations and other "security" matters; Bush and Cheney did that. I imagine there are lots of media fingers pointed at the Obama administration but that doesn't mean he has legal discretion to unilaterally change the law. And if he did you can be sure he'd be impeached immediately.

[eomer]

20. I didn't say DACA isn't having any impact, obviously it is.

I said it's a small part of the overall problem, and it is. About a half million kids have taken advantage of DACA, which is only temporary and partial relief for them. Meanwhile about two million people have been deported during the Obama administration and about ten million people (DACA kids included) live as second-class citizens in our country.

And DACA is proof that President Obama does have discretion that he can use to make a difference. There are things he can do for adults, just like he did something for kids. A law change is not the only way to make things better. But instead of using that discretion to make things better (for adults) he has used it to make things worse. He has stepped up deportations through his administration's discretion, not due to any law change. He has gone along with a dubious interpretation of a law that has ICE striving to keep 34,000 detention beds filled every day, so that ICE agents are getting creative in order to fill their quotas. Among these 34,000 people who are being treated as chattel, many of them are parents separated from children and from their spouses, also prevented from working to provide for the necessities of their children and spouses. These things could be different without any change of law.

[ucrdem]

19. p.s. "only Congress can confer the right to legal permanent resident status or citizenship"

Deferred action is only a temporary measure and is not intended to, and does not grant, legal status to the individuals that the DREAM Act seeks to benefit. Given that only Congress can confer the right to legal permanent resident status or citizenship, it is essential that we continue to work towards the passage of the DREAM Act. -

See more at: http://immigrationequality.org/issues/immigration-basics/daca/#sthash.cqcfHs9V.dpuf

[Cha]

21. Thanks for clarifying this, ucr!