Immigrations activists met in San Francisco’s Mission District today to call on President Barack Obama to use his executive powers to extend protections currently provided to immigrants who arrived illegally as children to all undocumented immigrants.
The Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals memorandum, also known as DACA, was authored in 2012 and directs federal agencies to use discretion in prosecuting immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children.
The rally outside the Women’s Building in San Francisco was organized by Mujeres Unidas y Activas and the San Francisco Bay for Immigrant Justice Coalition.
Ariana Gil Nafarrate, with Mujeres Unidas y Activas, said the coalition wants to see Obama extend DACA to include all undocumented immigrants without exception.
“We are here today to put pressure on President Obama to pass deferred action for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country,” Nafarrate said.
“There is a lot the Obama administration could do to recognize the contributions of immigrants and immigrant workers to this country so they are not living in the shadows, in fear of being deported and being separated from their families,” she said.
Currently, to qualify for deferred action under DACA, an undocumented immigrant must be under 30 years old, have entered the country under the age of 16, have lived in the country continuously for five years, be currently in school, have graduated from high school or be a veteran of the armed services and have not been convicted of a felony offense or certain significant misdemeanor offenses.
Dennis Culver, Bay City News
