|
Immigration
plan
draws
cheers,
criticism
across
US
AP/Tell
Us USA
WASHINGTON
-
Thousands
of
immigrant-rights
activists,
families
and
elected
officials
cheered
across
the
country
as
President
Barack
Obama
announced
on
television
his plan
for
relief
from
deportations
for
about 5
million
people.
But
after
the
initial
burst of
emotion
Thursday
evening
at
hastily
organized
watch
parties
and in
living
rooms,
many
said
Obama's
plan was
just the
first
step in
the
fight
for
comprehensive
immigration
reform.
Immigrant
families
pointed
out the
plan
would
only
cover
about 5
million
of the
11
million
without
legal
status,
leaving
many
families
and
individuals
in
limbo.
Republicans
slammed
the
president's
action
as an
overreach,
while
advocates
-
including
Oregon
Gov.
John
Kitzhaber
and
California
Gov.
Jerry
Brown -
praised
Obama's
plan.
Not
everyone
was
happy
with
Obama's
action.
A couple
of
protesters
held "no
amnesty"
signs
outside
a New
York
union
office
where
supporters
watched
the
speech.
A
snapshot
of
reactions
across
the
country:
---
"This
will
definitely
help our
family
no
longer
live in
fear,
fear
that we
will
have to
drop
everything
if our
parents
are
deported.
But
there is
still
fear,
because
this is
a
temporary,
and we
need
something
permanent,"
said
Isaura
Pena,
20, of
Portland,
whose
father
and
mother
lack
legal
status.
---
"This is
a great
day for
farmworkers.
It's
been
worth
the pain
and
sacrifice,"
said
Jesus
Zuniga,
40, who
picks
tomatoes
in
California's
Central
Valley
and
watched
the
speech
at a
union
gathering
in
Fresno.
---
"Simply
stated,
you're
the only
singular
person
in this
entire
country
that can
advance
or adopt
meaningful
immigration
reform.
By that
very
definition
then, it
is your
singular
failure
alone as
to why
we do
not yet
have
reform,
why
America
continues
to be at
risk,
and new
crimes
and new
victims
are
mounting
each and
every
day in
every
single
state,"
said
Sacramento
County
Sheriff
Scott
Jones,
addressing
the
president
directly
in a
video
posted
by his
office
Wednesday
on
YouTube.
Jones
vowed to
crusade
against
illegal
immigration
after
the
shooting
rampage
last
month by
a
Mexican
man with
a long
criminal
history
who was
in the
country
illegally.
---
"They're
going to
have a
chance
to be
what
they
want to
be and
get an
education,"
said
Maria
Perez,
41, of
Fresno,
California.
She is
in the
country
legally,
but she
often
worries
about
her
nieces,
ages 16
and 18,
who
aren't.
With the
president's
speech,
she
feels
hope
that her
nieces
now can
achieve
her
dreams.
---
"I
believe
that is
a good
step
forward,
but
again I
look at
the
other
side and
I
believe
he is
maybe
acting
too
rash. I
don't
know why
he is
doing it
without
the
consent
of
Congress.
... I
think
that is
creating
too much
dissension
in
Congress
where it
is
already,
and I
don't
know if
that is
necessarily
a good
thing. I
think
for a
lot of
people -
especially
those
who are
here
undocumented
- it is
great,
but at
some
point we
have to
draw the
line,"
said
community
activist
Bob
Hernandez
of
Wichita,
Kansas.
---
"I don't
think it
helps
because
it's
going to
create
friction
with the
new
Congress
that's
Republican.
While I
think
it's
probably
the
wrong
thing
for him
to do,
there's
a
possibility
it
starts a
dialogue
and
pushes
the
Republicans
to move
more
quickly,"
Overstock.com
board
chairman
Jonathan
Johnson
said at
his
company's
Salt
Lake
City,
Utah,
headquarters.
---
"I am a
mother
of
Dreamers
(the
children
who
benefited
from
Obama's
Deferred
Action
on
Childhood
Arrivals
program.)
They are
not
citizens.
It was a
great
disappointment
to hear
I won't
benefit
from it.
It's
bland.
He gave
us a
little
taste
but it
had no
taste,"
said
Rosa
Mejia,
an
immigrant
in El
Paso,
Texas,
who has
been
living
in the
US since
1999.
---
Abel
Rodriguez,
of
Phoenix,
said
Obama's
proposal
could
mean
that he
and his
wife
would be
able to
visit
their
family
in
Mexico
without
fear of
not
being
able to
return
to the
U.S. or
getting
separated
from
their
daughters.
"I have
not seen
my
family
for 10
years. I
have two
grandsons
that I
don't
see,"
Rodriguez
said.
---
"We have
a lot of
unemployed
Americans
right
now, and
I don't
understand
why
unemployed
Americans
can't be
hired to
do the
jobs
these
illegals
are
doing,"
said
John
Wilson,
who
works in
contract
management
in New
York
City.
---
"This is
not a
partisan
issue.
When the
bluest
of blue
states -
like
Oregon,
for
example
- vote
overwhelmingly
to
prohibit
illegal
aliens
from
obtaining
drivers
licenses,
it
speaks
volumes
about
the
widespread
lack of
support
for
President
Obama's
immigration
policies.
The
American
people
have
spoken,
and time
and
again
they
have
been
ignored,"
Arizona
Gov. Jan
Brewer
said. |