Protestors Say Girl and Family Arrested
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has allegedly arrested local a 9-year-old girl. There was a protest yesterday on Central Ave, near the train station.
In the D&C:
“Free Claudia!” Roberto Resto, an organizer with the Rochester Alliance for Immigrant Rights, chanted into a megaphone, referring to Claudia Reyes, who was apparently arrested by ICE officials along with her parents, Angela and Marcelino Cortez, and six other workers. “We don’t know where she is,” Resto said.
The Cortez’s were here for work building the Cheesecake Factory in Pittsford.
Resto said the organization was hoping to lobby City Council to designate Rochester a “sanctuary city” and ignore federal immigration policies.
I agree completely with the Sanctuary City idea. I wrote in an earlier post how important immigration was for New York City’s vitality and economy, and the same could be true upstate. (Note that it’s different from Rochester’s 1986 Sanctuary City law, which only applies to political refugees)
I’ve thought for years now that Rust Belt cities should do everything possible to encourage immigration. Rochester is no exception: our city has shrunk by 100,000 people since the 1950’s, our economy is stagnating, and we continue to lose population. What little population remains is getting older, and less productive. A huge influx of energetic, young, hard-working people is exactly what we need. We should welcome immigrants with open arms. Heck, we should find ways to encourage them to move here. Monroe County should have a resettlement office.
Anyone know if Ivan I-Hate-The-Government Ramos had the cojones to show up? He could have used some moral support from the goons at the Liberty Post, who think it’s a hoot to joke about shooting Rochester’s immigrants.
Oh, my favorite local activists, The Raging Grannies were at the protest, too.
The Sanctuary City idea is a really great one! With all the talk on this blog, in the media, and everywhere else about how to keep more young people in town I think that we should seriously consider this to be a viable and vital step in that direction.
I agree. Immigration is key to the future.
Also, arresting a nine-year-old girl? For shame.
[...] I called for Rochester to become a Sanctuary City, and discussed how Giuliani’s sanctuary city policy benefited New York, so I felt vindicated [...]