UndocuBus activists disrupt Kris Kobach immigration law hearing in Alabama
Gerardo Torres and three other UndocuBus riders interrupted hearing in Birmingham.
Activists interrupted a hearing in Birmingham, Ala. today on state laws cracking down on illegal immigration. They briefly blocked the street and stormed the hotel lobby where the hearing was.
Riders of Undocubus, part of a campaign for and by undocumented immigrants riding from Arizona to the Democratic National Convention, interrupted testimony by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Kobach, who helped write controversial immigration laws in Alabama and Arizona, was testifying to a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that the laws weren’t discriminatory and don’t result in racial profiling, according to the Associated Press.
Protesters repeatedly interrupted the hearing and held signs reading “undocumented.” They attempted to testify on how laws had affected their lives personally.
“Anyone who wants to understand the impact of immigration laws needs to hear from undocumented people not the authors of attrition,” said Gerardo Torres, one the four who spoke out during the meeting.
Protesters were escorted out of the meeting.
The Associated Press reported that members of the commission — which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans — began bickering among themselves until the chairman restored order.
Shortly after, protesters blocked the street by parking a bus in the street in front of the hotel and conducted street theater culminating in chants for justice.
UndocuBus activists getting pushed out of the Sheraton lobby.
They then stormed the lobby of the Sheraton hotel for about 5 minutes until sheriffs pushed them out — not before activists sat down in the lobby.
Activists sitting in the entrance of the lobby as they are pushed back.
In later testimony, expert Carol Swain implied undocumented and young immigrants were criminals and called their “undocumented and unafraid” shirts shameful.
(Photo: twitter.com/undocubus)
