© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Group Protests President’s Deportation Record At Civil Rights Summit

Ryan E. Poppe
/
TPR News
The group United We Stand protests on the UT campus, heading to the area where President Obama spoke during the Civil Rights Summit in Austin.

On Thursday an immigration rights group marched across the University of Texas at Austin campus and took up post in the front of the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library, voicing their protest for the rate of deportation during President Barack Obama’s presidency.

United We Stand, a collection of undocumented immigrants, students and religious leaders, walked the length of the UT campus in Austin to the area where the president was to speak. Javier Huamani, who was with the group, said throughout Obama's administration, two million immigrants have been deported.

"And right now we are demanding that he provide administrative relief in order to stop these unnecessary deportations,” Huamani said.

Huamani said even public officials like San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, who are supportive of this group, needs to be reminded of the needs of the undocumented population.

“President Obama, from the very beginning of his administration, said that he was supportive of us, yet throughout his administration he has deported two million people," Huamani said. "And it doesn’t make any sense of what he promised and the policy changes he made in the Department of Homeland Security two years ago, which allowed undocumented students to receive work authorization and protection from deportation." 

Huamani said none of that makes sense when you consider 1,100 people are still deported from this country every day. Huamani said the president’s administration need to stop separating families.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.