NEW YORK (AP) - Protesters rallied outside U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn home on Tuesday to denounce the deal to end the federal government shutdown without protections for young immigrants.
About 75 people held signs that said “Clean Dream Act Now” and “No! Not One More Deportation!” Some chanted “If Chuck won’t let us dream, we won’t let him sleep.”
Senate Democrats - led by Schumer - angered their liberal, activist political base on Monday by yielding to Republican demands to reopen the government without an immigration deal.
The activists wanted them to fight harder for legislation to protect from deportation the 700,000 or so younger immigrants known as “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children and now are here illegally.
Rebecca Coyle, 43, of Brooklyn, said she was angry with Schumer and urged him to step down as minority leader.
“We sent him to Washington to defend our democratic values and he sold out,” said Coyle. “He gets frightened every time he gets a little pushback.”
New York resident Ali Garvey said her father was deported 35 years ago when she was a baby. She said she feels the pain and suffering that her friends are going through.
“The healing doesn’t happen overnight and there are a lot of politicians who are going to have to answer for what they did,” the 36-year-old therapist said.
Tuesday’s protest was organized by local groups, including Make the Road New York and the New York Working Families Party.
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