Today in Charlotte, riders of the UndocuBus protested in front of the Democratic National Convention. Their cause? To let President Obama know that the deportations must stop (over 1 million since President took the oath of office in 2009) and a real push for comprehensive immigration must happen. The members of the UndocuBus knew that such a presence in Charlotte would be risky. In the end, ten members were arrested for blocking a street during their protest.
Eleazer: Tucson - Ride for Justice! Photo by Diane Ovalle
The protest gained the attention of actor activist Rosario Dawson, who joined members of UndocuBus during the protests today, as the picture from Twitter shows:
In addition, UndocuBus posted a YouTube video posted from today's protest. Notice that the UndocuBus are not just young people. They are of all ages, and they see why many still think that President Obama is just pandering to U.S. Latino voters this year with his approval of deferred action for undocumented youth under 30.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte Observer ran a piece about the arrests. Here is an excerpt of what the paper reported:
Ten undocumented immigrants were arrested Tuesday afternoon after sitting down in an uptown intersection and refusing police orders to disperse.
The activists are part of the “UndocuBus,” a group of about 50 undocumented immigrants traveling from Phoenix to Charlotte to argue for immigration reform during the Democratic National Convention.
“We are demanding from the President to stop the deportations and separation of families,” said Gerardo Torres, of Chicago. He said he was not afraid of arrest, “Because I have the support of my community.”
Since Mecklenburg County participates in the federal 287 (g) program, which screens all arrestees for immigration status, all those arrested Tuesday stand the chance of being deported. They said they were prepared to risk that to make their voices heard.
“This planned act of civil disobedience did not result in any injuries to the public or officers. Those arrested were charged with Impeding Traffic,” CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said in an email.
We did reach out to the Obama campaign tonight for comment. They have yet to reply, but if we do get a response, we will share!!
[…] activist and said that Congress must past the Dream Act, just hours before Castro spoke, a group of undocumented people were arrested in front of the DNC for protesting President Obama's immigrati…. Real courage would have been Castro standing with those who still believe that the Obama […]