PILSEN — After President Barack Obama announced Thursday his plan to overhaul the immigration process, politicians and community groups plan to rally in support of the president's plan at Benito Juarez high school Saturday.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-4th) plan to speak at the rally, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the high school's auditorium, 1450 W. Cermak Road in Pilsen.
In a primetime address from the White House Thursday night, the president outlined his plan to enact measures to defer the deportations of 4 million immigrants while refocusing federal border control agents on high-priority deportation cases to combat "actual threats to our security," The Washington Post reported.
Under the president's plan, undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who have lived in the country for at least five years can apply, starting this spring, for relief from deportations for a period of three years.
In the address, Obama said a mass deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States "would be both impossible and contrary to our character."
The Saturday rally in Pilsen is sponsored by the Illinois is Ready Campaign, a collective of community groups, government partners and immigration advocacy organizations that aim to prepare for administrative relief implementation.
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