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Immigration Reform Advocates Fed Up, Want President Obama To Take Action

By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's been a year since the U.S. Senate introduced a bill outing comprehensive immigration reform and immigrants and allies have lost hope that Congress can get the job done.

Some groups from our area are rallying in York, Pennsylvania Saturday as part of a National Day of Action to get President Obama to take action.

"We have seen that immigration reform is dead and Mr. Obama has a responsibility to do what he has promised," Blanca Pacheco says.

Pacheco works for the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia. With immigration reformed stalled in Congress, she says advocates have no choice but to pressure the President to use his executive power:

"We want him to stop deportations because two million is too many."

immigration rally 2
(Credit: Cherri Gregg)

Maria is one of 150 protesters from Philadelphia and surrounding areas who got on a bus headed for York Prison, where many of Pennsylvania's undocumented immigrants await deportation. Speaking through an interpreter, she says deportation breaks up families:

"It makes me feel horrible."

Her son, Anthony, is being deported.

The rally in York was organized by PICC in partnership with groups including NSM, UUPLAN (Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network) and others.

This is just one of many events this summer intended to mobilize advocates in support of immigration reform.

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