Immigrants Rally in Bend, Back Obama Policy

Some members of the Latino community held a rally Monday in Bend to show support for President Obama’s recent policy change to stop the deportation of some young illegal immigrants.

The three young undocumented immigrants NewsChannel 21 talked to said a burden has been lifted.

The plan will allow them to apply for jobs and/or go to college, something they’ve been wanting to do since arriving here.

Jose Sevilla, 18, and 24-year-old Sara Ramirez couldn’t be anymore excited.

“I think this new law is the best law that has come up in years,” Sevilla said. “It has been great so far — the best news any immigrant child has heard.”

Sevilla has been in the United States since he was 6 months old.

“This is for us young dreamers,” Sevilla said, referring to the name for those who support the long-stalled DREAM Act. “People around my age and a lot of people around their 30s are still fighting and want to become something positive.”

Ramirez, who lives in Madras, has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 years old.

“There was always this fear constantly of being deported,” Ramirez said.

For the thousands of undocumented immigrants like Ramirez, that fear is gone, at least for now.

“I’m stuck in limbo,” Ramirez said.”There’s really no where to go but now with this I’m excited, I can do something.”

Under President Obama’s new policy: immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 who have been in the United States for at least five years and maintained the same residence will be given a path to legalization.

But not everyone agrees with the president’s executive order.

“In the long term, it will hurt real immigration reform,” John Philo, Deschutes County Republicans spokesman, said Monday. “Quite frankly, it hurts the American workers that are unemployed at this point. It puts another burden on them.”

Philo says immigration reform should be considered by all of Congress, and rules should be enforced to secure our borders.

Local Latino community organizer Greg Delgado says he doesn’t know the exact number of undocumented immigrants this policy affects in our area, but says it’s in the thousands.

“I hear the optimism and the happiness of people’s families, knowing that their kids will have a future,” Delgado said.

When asked what the young immigrants want to do: Sevilla said he wants to go to college and get a degree to become a police officer or lawyer. Ramirez hopes to become a kindergarten teacher.