Success: Rigo Will Stay, “We Have the Power to Fix It”

America's Voice Blog

Posted 12/11/09 at 07:40am

This little video made me smile today:

Earlier this month, Angela Caputo of Progress Illinois described Rigo Padilla, the 19-year-old honors student facing deportation, pictured in the video above, as "A Local Posterchild For Our Broken Immigration System:"

Well, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR):

Today, December 10th, we got some great news. Rigo Padilla's deportation has been deferred.

This victory is due to the unified support for Rigo by Chicago municipal, state, and federal elected officials; the University of Illinois at Chicago community; youth, immigrant advocates, community and faith leaders. People across the Presidents hometown of Chicago and from around the country lifted their voices to end this senseless deportation and move towards just and humane immigration reform.

The campaign to stop Rigo's deportation exemplifies two things. Our immigration system is broken and that we have the power to fix it.

For months, ICIRR has been fighting alongside local advocates and elected officials in Chicago to keep Rigoberto Padilla from being deported (he was originally scheduled deported this week). Yesterday was an emotional moment for so many.

Via Progress Illinois, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) had this to say about Rigo's success story:

The Department of Homeland Security has decided that Rigo Padilla will not be deported next week and I am thrilled that we won our fight to keep him home. Unfortunately, Rigo’s saga illustrates the plight of so many like him who love this country, consider themselves Americans in every way, yet are forced to live in the shadows. We cannot resolve the thousands of heartbreaking cases one-by-one. Rigo’s ordeal underscores the need to fix the broken immigration system in a comprehensive way, and I believe that we cannot wait any longer to do so.”