Students arrested during US document protest

Summary of story from Democracy Now, August 18, 2011

Undocumented student Fanny Martinez and five others were arrested on 17 August in Chicago as they protested against a controversial immigration enforcement campaign.

Martinez, a 23-year-old graduate student, wearing  a T-shirt that said “Undocumented and Unafraid”, attended a protest against the American ‘Secure Communities’ deportation program.

Kept overnight, Martinez was released the next morning.

She said that while she knew she risked getting arrested during the students’ protest, she also knew that under the enforcement campaign she faced the same risk.

Martinez came to the USA when she was 13 with her family and married a soldier three years ago, but she still has not been legalised.

“Of course, you know, the immigration system in the US is inefficient. We all know that,” Martinez said. “And even though he is serving in the military—I didn’t come with a visa. I came here crossing the border illegally.”

She said she hopes President Barack Obama and US Congress will end the Secure Communities program.