San Jose Activists Vow To Fight On After Supreme Court Immigration Deadlock
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- Within hours of the Supreme Court ruling President Obama's immigration plan, some of the most powerful grassroots activist groups in San Jose called a press conference to say their battle for immigration reform is not over.
Leaders said the Supreme Court decision was deeply disappointing, but they have vowed to fight on.
Amid chants of "Si Se puede!" about a hundred people gathered at San Jose's Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in the same building where Cesar Chavez planned his protests years ago.
Many of families in attendance would've qualified for DAPA.
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Federal officials say the five million people or so who would've been affected are low priority for law enforcement and that chances they'd actually be deported are very small.
Still, it's little consolation since those millions of undocumented immigrants who still cant get work permits, buy a home or qualify for benefits like social security.
Undocumented immigrant Eliseo Aceves was near tears when he heard the news. He has been working in the fields since 1989.
"I've been paying it all the time taxes, I'm like any other citizen," said Aceves. "Thing is, I don't have the social [security number], and I don't have that little paper. That's the only thing making the difference. The work permit."
Father Jon Pedigo of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the strongest and most visible advocates for immigrant families in the South Bay, said he will tell his flock to keep moving forward with the DAPA paperwork and stay politically active.
"The economy is built on the backs of these folks that are so desperately trying to get work and keep their families together," said Pedigo. "Without this DAPA provision, it endangers even further, it puts them at risk for decoration and economic disaster."
