The Executive Director of the Hispanic-American Council of Kalamazoo says President Obama's executive order is only a temporary solution.
Lori Mercedes and the council's community organizer Adrian Vasquez spoke to WMUK's Gordon Evans Friday morning about the executive order announced by President Obama Thursday night. It will shield up to five-million immigrants from deportation. Mercedes says the executive order does nothing for families that have already seen members deported. She also disputes the President's claim that deportation has targeted criminals. Mercedes says the Hispanic-American Council has seen raids result in deportations of people in "the wrong place at the wrong time." Mercedes says parents whose children are still in the United States will keep coming back to be reunited with their family.
Adrian Vasquez says the Hispanic-American Council says they plan to get accurate information to members of the Hispanic community. He says there is a danger that scammers could take advantage of people, and promise citizenship for money.
Mercedes says the debate over a "direct path to citizenship" make immigration a political issue. She says families living in the United States want a stop to deportations, and get work permits and driver's licenses. Mercedes says other details can be worked out. But she says many undocumented immigrants are living in fear, and don't want to participate in the Democratic process.
West Michigan Congressman Fred Upton issued a statement in response to President Obama's executive order. Upton says the President's "go it alone approach drives a political wedge into ongoing reform efforts and recklessly disregards our nation's lawmaking process."
