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Undocumented activists seek support of Toomey
A vigil held in Center City Thursday commemorates "Georgia 7" and looks ahead for the undocumented community.
Undocumented activists seek support of Toomey
On Thursday, shortly after 5 p.m., Maria “Fernanda” Marroquin stood in front of Sen. Pat Toomey’s district office at 1628 John F. Kennedy Boulevard and declared herself an undocumented U.S. citizen.
It wasn’t the first time for the 21-year-old, and it certainly won’t be the last, she said.
Marroquin was one of the organizers behind the vigil honoring the “Georgia 7,” as some call it, the group of seven undocumented citizens in their 20s arrested Tuesday in Atlanta, near Georgia State University. One of them was Marroquin’s sister, also named Maria.
She decided to take a stand for us...for all undocumented youth...so that they could come out of the shadows and finally declare that they’re undocumented," Marroquin said of her sister, a 23-year-old co-founder of DreamActivist.org’s Pennsylvania chapter. The group is pushing for passage of the "DREAM Act," which would allow conditional permanent residency to illegal immigants who came to the country as children and have graduated high school.
The “Georgia 7” blocked traffic by sitting in the street near the university, wearing graduation caps, protesting policies that ban undocumented students from five public universities in Georgia.
The DREAM Act failed to pass the Senate in December.
The “Georgia 7,” made up of undocumented people from various states, was released earlier today, sans deportation charges, after being questioned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Erin Cusack, a member of Pennsylvania’s DreamActivist.org chapter, said she hopes Toomey will be among the supporters.
Now that they’re released, we’re still standing behind the original protest,” Cusack said. “We’re here specifically in front of Senator Toomey’s office because we’re optimistic that he will publicly endorse this bill; he has not yet stated what his stance is on the DREAM Act.”
We would love to have him on board for bipartisan support of the DREAM Act,” Cusack added.
Among the crowd were students from local universities and members of religious communities.
The DREAM Act is one of the ways we can help make more just immigration policies,” Stephen Kriss, a pastor from South Philly’s Philadelphia Praise Center, said. “There are undocumented immigrants in the Mennonite community that I represent.”
Marroquin, who was with her sister in Atlanta for a National Immigrant Youth Alliance convention last weekend, recalled saying goodbye to her sister before the Tuesday protest.
“I knew [she was planning on being arrested] and, I wasn’t surprised...I was scared but, at the same time, I knew something had to be done because we can’t keep living like this,” Marroquin said. “We’re trying to build a national movement now.”
Kudos to Maria, I hope you'll win soon. Hang in there. I too was unjustly arrested -- by my ex-fiance, a Ursinus professor and his married girlfriend. Check my website www.blinkingyellow.com for details. Injustices are all around us everywhere. Truth will win in the end.— blinkingYellow
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