Immigrant Activists' Dramatic New Approach: Allow Children to be Arrested David Nakamura - The Washington Post
go to original May 5, 2014

Video from the Stop Separating Families youth-led civil disobedience on April 30, 2014. (KFTStories)

Eighth-grader Elias Gonzales and six other minors, ranging in age from 11 to 16, along with adult family members and supporters, planned to shut down the intersection of New Jersey and Independence avenues by sitting in the middle of the street on Wednesday afternoon. They did not intend to move until officers handcuffed them and put them in a police wagon.

The action, organized by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), was conceived as part of a broader escalation among immigrant rights groups. They are pressing Congress to act on legislation and President Obama to use his executive authority to stem deportations of the nation’s 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

Advocates view the next few months as a crucial window of opportunity before the midterm elections, so they have stepped up dramatic, in-your-face demonstrations. Allowing children to get arrested is a tactic intended to grab attention but also fraught with risks: Can a 15-year-old, or an 11-year-old, really make such a decision?

Read the rest at The Washington Post

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