Anti-Deportation Protesters To Demonstrate In Front Of White House On May Day

A host of labor, faith and civil-rights groups are planning protests in front of the White House against the deportation of undocumented immigrants on May 1, when many countries celebrate Labor Day. Notimex reports that the AFL-CIO – the nation’s largest federation of unions, with more than 12 million members – along with the Latino and immigrant-advocate groups Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and Casa de Maryland say they will call for a halt to deportations and the passage of immigration reform legislation.

Groups say coming months will see a ratcheting-up of pressure on House Republicans to consider a bill – and on the Obama administration to bring a halt to deportations. FAIR has set a deadline of June 28. That date will mark the one-year anniversary of the passage of a bipartisan bill in the Senate, a bill which would have extended legal status and a path to citizenship for some 8 million of the estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States (along with allotting a massive $46 billion package to border-control measures). If nothing happens on either front, FAIR and other groups are planning what they hope to be a much broader mobilization in cities across the country.

The protests come as the Obama administration contemplates an extension of protections from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants. Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, who is carrying out a review of the agency’s immigration-enforcement policies, has called immigrant advocates and Hispanic Democratic lawmakers to discuss possible changes in recent weeks. Among recommendations he could make to the president include a shortening of the time period immigrants are considered recent entries and thus a priority for immigration authorities as well as an extension of deportation relief for those in the military.