Bi-coastal demonstrations erupted Monday morning as over one hundred demonstrators in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles shut down the regional offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with a message for the “deporter-in-chief,” President Barack Obama: Not one more deportation.
Protesters with the group #Not1More were arrested outside the ICE office in Fairfax, Virginia for blocking a deportation van. In Los Angeles, in front of over one hundred other demonstrators who rallied outside the city’s ICE headquarters, six immigrant youth and allies chained themselves to two 8-foot ladders with U-locks around their necks.
Staged on the first workday after the House of Representatives closed its doors without passing immigration reform, the protesters are hoping to draw attention to the many individuals who will be detained or deported while legislators enjoy their holiday break. After overwhelmingly passing in the Senate, the immigration reform bill has yet to be called up for a vote in the House of Representatives.
“The House might have closed for the year but ICE will be deporting families on Christmas unless we stop it,” explained protester Rosa Lozano of DC. “Blaming Republicans can’t stop the suffering in immigrant communities.”
Singling out President Obama—dubbed the “deporter-in-chief”—demonstrators are demanding that he abolish his “self-imposed deportation quota” of 400,000 removals per year and the “criminalization programs that conscript local police into efforts to meet it,” such as the Secure Communities program.
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