Latino Group From Wisconsin To Join Protests At Republican National Convention

About 30 Latinos from Wisconsin are scheduled to join Monday’s protest outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Members of the group Voces de la Frontera left Milwaukee early Monday morning for the drive to Ohio.

High school senior Daniel Gutierrez is among those planning to protest. Gutierrez is a native of Mexico who is in the U.S. legally under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He said he doesn’t like it that presumed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump might end DACA.

“Hey, I want to fight for this, you know. I want to make sure that thousands of students who have benefited from it keep receiving that benefit, keep those open pathways,” he said.

Gutierrez said he’s concerned that anti-immigrant groups might be part of a counter-demonstration outside the GOP convention, but he said he isn’t looking for a confrontation.

Another Voces member headed to Cleveland, Milwaukee high school graduate Sofia Flores, was born in the U.S., but has relatives here who are undocumented. Flores said she is worried that Trump will try to force more immigrants out of the country.

“It’s kind of scary at first, ’cause it’s like it’s a never-ending joke, but some people do take him seriously,” she said.

Flores said sending millions of undocumented people out of the U.S. would break up families and hurt the economy.

Trump is calling for enhanced penalties for overstaying a visa, ending automatic citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, and a border wall paid for by Mexico.