Protesters run gamut, but none entirely happy with Obama on immigration

Protesters on opposite sides of the political spectrum outside President Barack Obama’s speech Friday at Del Sol High School could agree on one thing: They weren’t entirely happy.

Opponents of what they called “amnesty” for those in the United States illegally said Obama went much too far with executive actions that could keep millions of people from being deported. Others supported the steps the president has taken but said they fall short of “victory.”

Most of those interviewed as the president spoke inside the Las Vegas school agreed something needs to be done to fix the country’s immigration system. But many didn’t think Obama has found the solution — or at least not all of it.

Stephen Parshall, 30, of Las Vegas, made his position clear with a sign reading “Impeach Obama.”

“What he did is going above and beyond the laws,” Parshall said.

Tania Chairez, 22, came because she doesn’t think Obama went far enough. She got on the road at 5 a.m. to travel to Las Vegas from Phoenix with a group that was part of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition. Chairez is a “DREAMer,” or a child whose parents brought her to the United States without proper documentation.

“It’s not enough for our communities — a lot of our families don’t qualify,” the middle school English teacher said.

That’s also what drove Jose Patino to interrupt Obama’s speech to tell the president his parents will not qualify for the benefits under the executive actions.

Patino, a DREAMer who was with Chairez’s group, said his three older siblings also qualified for the benefits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an executive order that Obama took in 2012 and allows young immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation. It also grants them two-year working permits.

The 25-year-old graduated from Arizona State University in 2011 with a bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering and is now working toward his master’s degree in secondary education.

“(Obama) could have done so much more,” the high school math teacher said soon after he was escorted out. “We are going to keep fighting.”

Protests were peaceful, but spirited, most of the day, as people on opposing sides stood side by side on the sidewalk across from the school.

“If you’re here illegally, go home and fix your country,” a woman called out repeatedly.

“This is my country,” someone answered.

Steven Scalzo of Las Vegas, who held a sign reading “Stop illegal immigration,” said he came because he believes the country is going in the wrong direction.

A system where a president believes he can make his own laws, he said, is a “fascist dictatorship.”

Scalzo agreed the nation needs to decide how to treat people brought here without papers as children. But, he said, “that’s a big debate that Congress needs to have. That’s why we elect congress­men.”

Just down the sidewalk, Carla Nahoul, who held a sign reading “Thank you Obama,” said the president’s plan will help families including hers stay together.

“He’s doing his best and trying to get us a new opportunity,” she said of Obama.

Nahoul, who first came to the United States from Mexico in 1999, said she has three children who were born here. But because she’s not a legal resident, she has worried about being deported.

Now, she said, “We’re going to live with no fears.”

Early in the day, people on both sides of the issue walked around each other on the sidewalks across from the school, yelling slogans and waving signs side by side with few problems.

But as the hours wore on, the division seemed to become sharper: The pro-Obama crowd on the east side of the street, the anti-Obama crowd on the west. It was as if the crowd subconsciously reflected the split in the nation as a whole.

Exchanges between opposing sides sometimes grew nasty, with several people asking others whether they were in the country illegally.

One man standing amid the anti-Obama protesters said he agreed with many of their messages, but not the angry delivery some used.

“The yelling, screaming really doesn’t serve a purpose other than loud noise,” said the man, who identified himself as Darwin Rockantansky.

A self-described Tea Party member, Rockantansky said he believes Obama’s unilateral actions are unconstitutional. He supports impeachment.

But he also gets behind ideas the president has proposed: securing the border and letting people stay in the country if they were brought here illegally as children.

Rockantansky said reasonable debate on immigration is possible, but only if people can get beyond the rhetoric on both sides.

“You can’t argue on emotion,” he said. “You have to argue on logic.”

Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley. Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @yeseniaamaro.