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Video Blog: Ohio Families Deliver Thousands Of Petitions To Kasich, Call On Him To Withdraw State From Anti-Immigrant Lawsuit

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On Tuesday, immigrant families from all across the country rallied in support of DAPA, which is on hold after a lawsuit from the Republican Governors and Attorneys General of 26 states.

At one of yesterday’s events, DAPA-eligible families and leaders from Ohio’s Voice held a press conference and delivered nearly 3,000 petitions to Ohio’s Governor, John Kasich, calling on him to take the state off of the partisan lawsuit.

One Ohioan at the press conference, Samuel, spoke about his father, who was nearly deported because of the delay caused by the lawsuit. Another speaker, Manny, is a DACA recipient and was once aided by Attorney General Mike DeWine when he faced deportation in 2005.

But now DeWine, along with Kasich, is a part of the lawsuit blocking deportation relief for members of Manny’s own family.

25,000 Ohioans stand to benefit from DAPA and the expansion of DACA, which would allow them to finally live without fear of deportation.

As we noted earlier, Ohio families have repeatedly attempted to meet with Gov. Kasich, but were again told yesterday that he was not available (advocates are speculating about that claim from Kasich’s office, more on that here).

However, the families were able to meet with Kasich’s staff, and in a series of video clips below, recount their meetings and describe how the lawsuit blocking DAPA and expanded DACA is hurting Ohio’s immigrant families:

Advocates report on their initial meeting with Gov. John Kasich’s staff:

One group speculates Gov. Kasich may have been hiding from the families:

A testimonial from DACA recipient Manny, who faced deportation in 2005 and has a DAPA-eligible parent:

A testimonial from the Mata family, who faced separation due to deportation following the lawsuit:

And young activist Andrew, who is fighting to keep other families together:

A look at more events from the National Day of Action in support of DAPA is available here.