By: Ashmar Mandou

A pool of politicians and faith based leaders rallied in support of auto mechanic Oscar Robles, father of two U.S. citizen daughters ages 11 and 8, on Tuesday in front of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to call on the Department of Homeland Security to stop his deportation and keep his family together. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Exelon Chairman Emeritus John Rowe, City Clerk Anna Valencia, and members of The Resurrection Project, Illinois Business Immigration Coalition, and Instituto del Progreso Latino attended the press conference to lend their voice in support of Robles. Robles is among the many immigrants who the government knows are living in the U.S. illegally, but who, under the previous administration, were not considered priorities for deportation because of their lack of a criminal record. The current administration has aggressively pursued the detention and deportation of individuals with completely clean records like Robles who year after year have faithfully obeyed the court extensions on their cases to remain in this country. Because immigration check-ins have become deportation traps for undocumented immigrants around the country, elected officials, business, faith and community leaders join Robles to his immigration appointment and to urge Homeland Security to stop his deportation and keep his family together.

Photo Credit: The Resurrection Project