NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigrants and activists held a protest Wednesday to draw attention to the possibility that many immigrants living illegally in the United States may not be shielded by an executive order President Barack Obama is expected to sign.
Standing on the sidewalk outside a high-rise building housing a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service office, protesters held signs that read "Deferred action for everyone" and "Ready for relief."
In addition, workers' rights advocates presented the cases of two immigrants who they said might be deported regardless of whatever Obama's executive action declares. The two immigrants face deportation by the end of the year, a time frame that may end before Obama's immigration order kicks in.
On Thursday, Obama is expected to announce an executive decision that could spare as many as 5 million people who are living in the country illegally from deportation, officials in Washington said.
The two immigrants took their pleas for deferred action to immigration officials in the Citizenship and Immigration office. The men are Gustavo Bonilla, a 35-year-old carpenter who has lived in New Orleans since 2000, and Edas Sevilla, a laborer who has lived in New Orleans since 2006 and worked various reconstruction jobs.
Bonilla has two sons who were born in the United States and he fears being separated from his family. Sevilla was arrested in June 2013 by federal immigration agents in a checkpoint aimed at targeting immigrants, activists said.
Activists with the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice's Congress of Day Laborers — a group that formed after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 — questioned how far Obama's shield would extend.
"We don't know if everyone will be included," said Ilda Sarminto, a 28-year-old housekeeper and member of the workers' group. "We all have friends, we all have family, who may not get covered by this executive action."
Wednesday's action in New Orleans followed a similar move in Chicago where five immigrants living in the U.S. illegally sought relief from deportation in similar petitions to immigration officers.
– by AP Reporter Cain Burdeau
