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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2014
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MEDIA CONTACT
Akiko Aspillaga
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Undocumented Asian and Pacific Islanders Immigrants Condemn Obama and the Democratic Party for Delaying Administrative Relief
San Francisco -- Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education (ASPIRE), the nation's first undocumented pan-Asian immigrant organization, condemn President Obama and the Democratic Party for delaying administrative relief. On November 25, 2013, ASPIRE urged the President to stop the deportations during his speech on immigration reform in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Ju Hong, an ASPIRE member, spoke out during the President's speech: "Mr. President, please use your executive authority to halt [deportations]. We agree that we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but at the same time, you have the power to stop deportations." ASPIRE and SF Dream Team members, who were next to Hong, joined him in chanting, "Yes, you can. Stop the deportations!" Despite unanimous agreement from legal scholars, President Obama disingenuously replied, "Actually, I don't, and that's why we're here."
On June 30, 2014, President Obama--under immense pressure from our community-- backtracked stating he would use his executive authority to "fix as much of our immigration system as [he] can on [his] own." He promised action, but instead turned his back on us and stalls yet again.
In the past 6 years, the Deporter-in-Chief and the Democratic Party have been responsible for more than 2 million deportations. An average of 1,100 people are deported every day. We cannot trust promises of immigration reform while our community members are targeted and deported by overly aggressive enforcement policies that criminalize and dehumanize us. When will this war on immigrants end?
Another delay is not just another taint on President Obama's political record; it is another blow to the millions of families who are facing deportation and languishing in detention centers. The President temporarily buys time for politics in exchange for the permanent damage of having families torn apart. Regardless of the outcome in the upcoming elections, the fact remains that immigrants continue to be treated as tokens for political gain. We are not pawns for votes. Our community's suffering cannot wait until after Election Day.
We continue to revisit the same conversation and excuses for delays when the President should have acted on administrative relief a long time ago. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The time is always right to do what is right." President Obama, we urge you once again to do what is right and declare a moratorium on deportations now. "Your unwillingness to take immediate action has prolonged the suffering of our people," said ASPIRE member Dean Santos, "If you continue to delay action, we will take it to the streets."
