Immigration News: Immigrant Rights Advocates Meet with Gov. John Kasich on DACA, DAPA Lawsuit
Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich met with advocates on Monday regarding President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) lawsuit.
According to America's Voice, a small group of activists spoke to the Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who is directly responsible for the lawsuit, and Gov. Kasich. The activists talked about the state's support for the lawsuit against DACA expansion and DAPA, bringing along undocumented immigrants who are affected by the lawsuit.
DeWine listened to the stories from several families including Carlos, a single dad. His wife was killed by a U.S.-citizen drunk driver and his two sons are afraid that they will lose him too, if he is deported.
It was reported that advocates confronted Kasich last month pressing him on his stance on immigration. Advocates came along with undocumented immigrant Maria and her 11-year-old son Andrew who is an American citizen.
Maria came to America from Peru more than 10 years ago, overstayed her tourism visa then applied for DAPA. Yet, Ohio is one of the 26 states that are currently suing the Obama administration over the president's executive orders.
Maria and Andrew continued to confront Kasich about his stance on immigration, telling him that they were denied appointments with his office. The governor then told an aide to take their names down telling Maria, "You're such a nice lady; we don't want you to leave."
At the meeting on Monday, DeWine said that he supports the families' interest in passing immigration reform but will stand by the lawsuit in order to "protect the Constitution."
Meanwhile, America's Voice advocates say Kasich did not listen to the families' stories. Instead, he drilled them with questions and told them that it's not fair to "jump the line." He did insist, though, that he does not want to separate families.
Kasich also said that he does not support "the Obama actions" because he thought that he should have tried harder to work with Republicans.
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