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'This Is My Home': Immigrant Rights Activists Stage Sit-In To Protest Threats To DACA

DACA recipient Catalina Santiago from Homestead, Fla., is arrested alongside fellow immigrants rights protesters outside the Texas State Capitol.
Martin do Nascimento
/
KUT
DACA recipient Catalina Santiago from Homestead, Fla., is arrested alongside fellow immigrants rights protesters outside the Texas State Capitol.

Fifteen immigrant rights activists were arrested Wednesday after blocking traffic at the intersection of 15th Street and Congress Avenue during a sit-in to protest Attorney General Ken Paxton's push to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

The Obama-era program protects undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, known as "Dreamers," from deportation. Last month, Paxton and nine other attorneys general wrote a letter to the Trump administrationasking it to phase out the program.

“Not my crime. Not my fault. I have nowhere to go," DACA recipient Oscar Galindo said during the demonstration. The Austin resident said he was brought to the country when he was 4. "This is my home. I don’t understand why a lot of politicians want to get rid of us."

As police began arresting the demonstrators who were blocking the road, others called out: " Aguanta, el pueblo se levanta," which translates to "Endure, the people are rising."

Organizers called the march and sit-in the “first and largest undocumented-led direct action since Trump’s inauguration.” 

Credit Martin do Nascimento / KUT
/
KUT

Juan Ortiz from Baltimore claps and chants alongside fellow immigrant rights protesters blocking traffic.
Credit Martin do Nascimento / KUT
/
KUT
Juan Ortiz from Baltimore claps and chants alongside fellow immigrant rights protesters blocking traffic.

Ariel Mendoza from Minneapolis sits in front of the Texas Capitol.
Credit Martin do Nascimento / KUT
/
KUT
Ariel Mendoza from Minneapolis sits in front of the Texas Capitol.

Catalina Adorno from Union City, N.J., was one of more than a dozen demonstrators who were arrested outside the Capitol.
Credit Martin do Nascimento / KUT
/
KUT
Catalina Adorno from Union City, N.J., was one of more than a dozen demonstrators who were arrested outside the Capitol.

Juan Ortiz is led into a police van after being arrested.
Credit Martin do Nascimento / KUT
/
KUT
Juan Ortiz is led into a police van after being arrested.

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KUT Staff