New York Times:
By Michael D. Shear
April 30, 2014
WASHINGTON
-- Labor leaders who normally side with President Obama planned to
vividly demonstrate their anger and frustration with his immigration
policies on Wednesday
by projecting a 90-by-60-foot video onto the side of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
headquarters two blocks from the White House.
Union
officials will show the 11-minute video for three nights starting
Wednesday. It will repeat in a loop for more than two hours in the hopes
of persuading the president
to cut down on the deportations of illegal immigrants.
"We
feel like the political debate about immigration has gotten old and
tired, while the human dimension of the deportation crisis has
unfortunately lost center stage," said Jeff Hauser, a spokesman for the union federation. "This crisis
has its origins in Republican obstructionism, but the more important
consequences aren't for the Republican brand, but for the immigrant
families being torn apart. We think this projection
embodies that painful crisis.
For
logistical reasons, the giant video display will not face 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue. But labor officials said they hoped that the White
House would take notice of what
they described as "a massive public art display" to highlight the
plight of immigrant workers.
The
video repeatedly features the words "STOP DEPORTATIONS" in Spanish and
English, and tells the stories of several immigrant families who were
split up when a parent
was deported. The video will include photographs of people who were
deported. Some of them will be family shots.
Mr.
Obama has said the best way to solve the problem is to enact a
comprehensive overhaul of the nation¹s immigration laws that would
provide a path to legalization for
most of the unauthorized workers already in the country.
But
with House Republicans refusing to act on such legislation, activists
have grown weary of waiting. A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials say Mr. Obama's
administration is deporting
too many people and breaking up too many families. They are calling on
the administration to end most deportations.
The
video will also feature statistics that activists say tell a story
about people who entered the United States illegally but who are
otherwise living productive lives
here.
One
says, "Every 78 seconds, a father, mother, brother or sister is
deported." Another declares that "150,000 children who are U.S. citizens
are missing at least one deported
parent."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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