By: Ashmar Mandou

Family members of undocumented immigrants currently detained stood outside the Daley Plaza Tuesday afternoon to voice their discontent with the recent immigration raids performed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and urged President Barack Obama to grant immediate relief by ordering a moratorium. “It makes no sense to be removing people from the country who you say you want to legalize,” explained Reverend Jose Landaverde of Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Church. “For the past four years my church has been filled with crying children whose parents have been taken away. The President needs to stop deportations immediately.”

During President Obama’s first term, a record 1.5 million people were deported back home; 409,000 in the past year alone. And although Obama promised immigration reform in his second term, community activists, like Eric Rodriguez are keeping a close watch. “We want the President to be on the right side of history,” said Rodriguez, director of the Latino Union of Chicago. “His second term will define his legacy. Will he be the President to deport more people than any other in history or the President responsible for championing inclusion and equality?” Currently, families of those recently targeted in immigration raids, community leaders, and representatives of organizations, such as Centro Sin Fronteras, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Immigrant Youth Justice League, are organizing a march for a moratorium on deportations January 21st beginning at the Daley Plaza to Federal Plaza at 11a.m. “The path to citizenship starts with a moratorium on deportations,” said Rodriguez.