Chicago aldermen urge moratorium on ‘cruel deportations’

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | Jan 13, 2011 | - Fran Spielman

[moonshinner_09]

The Chicago City Council on Thursday turned up the heat on President Obama on the volatile issue of immigration reform that Ilinois’ native son promised to — but so far has failed to — deliver.

Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution urging Obama to use his executive powers to call an immediate halt to deportation of undocumented workers that separate them from families that include either a U.S. citizen or a child who would be covered by the so-called “DREAM Act.”

The DREAM Act would have established a path to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, but it fell two votes short of passage in the frenzied hours before Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Now, aldermen want Obama to take matters into his own hands to stop a deportation policy they called “inhumane” and said is separating 1,100 families each day.

The resolution was championed by Hispanic aldermen and by Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th), who represents a majority Hispanic ward.

Burke noted that in the 1850s, the City Council voted to prohibit law enforcement officials from cooperating with U.S. marshals then tracking down fugitive slaves. The immigration issue is a similar issue of “compassion and morality,” Burke said.

“It is just unfathomable that the federal government persists in this cruel and unusual punishment to innocent members of our society,” Burke said at a City Hall news conference Thursday. “If Illinois can have a moratorium on the death penalty, the U.S. ought to have a moratorium on these cruel deportations.”

[SF_Redux]

President Obama on the volatile issue of immigration reform that Ilinois’ native son promised to — but so far has failed to — deliver.

wrong right off the bat

[moonshinner_09]

I am with you all. Show me where these deportations they called “inhumane” and are separating 1,100 families each day are taking place at ? If this were the case, for one thing,U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez would be on the front page of every newspaper talking about how these deportations they called “inhumane” are separating 1,100 families each day and so would La Raza and the Catholic Church would also be in the press condemning this as well. From this story all the major players are not part of this problem.This makes it less believeable.