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SALT LAKE CITY — Several dozen immigrants and their supporters met in Liberty Park on Thursday to give speeches welcoming President Barack Obama to Utah and praising his efforts to enact immigration reform.
The rally was staged by Proyecto Latino de Utah, an advocacy organization for the Latino community in the state. Tony Yapias, director of the group, said he wants President Obama to understand there is a sizable Latino population in Utah that supports the executive actions on immigration he issued in November.
"We know executive actions work,” Yapias said. "We know families are more prosperous when they’re paying taxes, going to school, getting an education.”
Obama’s most recent executive actions, issued Nov. 20, would defer the deportations of immigrants under 30 years old who came to the United States as children. They would also make provisions for immigrants who pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math degrees and who invest while they are in the United States.
Deferred deportations of young immigrants were blocked by a federal judge in February. A coalition of 26 states oppose Obama’s orders and hope to defeat it in a lawsuit that argues the order exceed his constitutional authority.
Yapias said he is disappointed Utah is among that those who joined the coalition and called on Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes to remove Utah from that group.
We want to show our support for President Obama. And we don't expect him to do all the work. We want to be part of a movement, part of history.
–Carmen Hernandez
Several others also spoke at the rally welcoming Obama, where presenters put on music and held signs welcoming the president. One of them was Carmen Hernandez, a business owner in the Salt Lake area who said she's dissatisfied with the immigration system in place in the United States.
"We want to show our support for President Obama,” said Hernandez, who immigrated from Mexico. “And we don't expect him to do all the work. We want to be part of a movement, part of history."
Yapias pointed to Utah’s tourism industry as evidence that immigrants, who work behind the scenes, are a larger part of the state’s economy than most understand.
"Behind those businesses providing those services, we have Latinos cooking their meals, making their bed or … (are) behind the construction” of the facilities tourists use, he said.
Veronica, an undocumented immigrant who didn’t give her last name, said she was at Thursday’s rally to support immigrants who are too busy working to support their families to spend energy on causes directly affecting them.
"I came to support the people and have one voice for others that can’t be there,” she said. "Sometimes we have to work and can’t be in the right place at the right moment."
Veronica said she doesn’t live in fear because "I’m doing the right thing all the time,” but the mother of two said her opportunities will increase if Obama’s orders are enacted.
"For me, (the orders) are important because I can do more than I’m doing right now,” she said.
Hernandez said immigrant labor is already a major part of the economy in Utah and throughout the country, adding that immigration reform will merely recognize that reality in a formal way.
"The immigration process has been here for ages. You cannot stop it. You must regulate it. If you do nothing, it’ll keep coming in the wrong way,” she said. "You cannot stop it because people will always look for a better opportunity."
Hernandez’s 11-year-old son, Emiliano Martinez, also gave a welcome speech at the rally.
"I think that the reform should actually happen. … I want to support Obama. He has really helped us all these years,” Martinez said.
Yapias said he hopes federal legislation will give immigrants an easier path to legal work and citizenship.
"Obviously we want to see comprehensive immigration reform,” but executive orders will have to do in the absence of a new law, he said. Email: blockhart@deseretnews.com Twitter: @benlockhartnews
