Activists Seek End to Deportations  ... >
April 9, 2014 - Activists have been holding a vigil in Lafayette Park opposite the White House to pressure President Obama "to expand the deferred action program he created for immigrant youth and suspend deportations immediately."  About 40 of them, including members of Puente Arizona and the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, arrived in Washington, DC early on Tuesday morning (April 8) after what they said was a 46-hour bus ride from Phoenix.  Several are been holding a hunger strike to draw attention to the issue.  This afternoon a group visited offices on Capitol Hill, targeting members who have shown support in the past.  Rather than the broader objective of comprehensive immigration reform, which one activist said is like "talking to a wall," their efforts are focused on stopping the deportations.
Naira Zapata of Phoenix, with her eight-month old daughter Naila, started a hunger strike on Tuesday.  According to the DREAM Action Coalition her fiancé Ardanis Rosales was deported "due to ICE retaliation for his activism."
A photo of Ardanis Rosales and their three-year old son Pablo.
Jose Valdez of Phoenix, started a hunger strike on Tuesday.  He said his son Jaime has been held in a detention facility in Florence for one year and seven months but that he is not losing hope.
Anselma Lopez tapes a video in front of the White House.  He son, Elder Gomez-Lopez has been held in a detention facility in Eloy for well over two years.
"Un día a la vez" a late afternoon vigil. 

April 11, 2014 - The vigil continues in Lafayette Park.
Francisco Diaz biked to Washington, DC from Homestead, Florida, a distance of more than 1,000 miles, to urge President Obama to stop the deportations.
Three-year old Pablo Zapata, son of Naira Zapata and Ardanis Rosales.
Activists prepare to board the bus for the long ride back to Arizona.

According to NotOneMoreDeportation.com, a project of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, more than 1,000 people are deported every day, and by this month some two million people will have been deported during the Obama Administration.  On April 10 the American Immigration Council held a telephonic briefing to highlight the fact, shown in reports this week from The New York Times and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, "that the largest increases in deportations under President Obama have involved unauthorized immigrants with traffic violations and other minor violations, including convictions related to entering or reentering the country without authorization."
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