Local

Local activists demanding action in president's deportation policy

ATLANTA — Local immigration activists are responding to President Barack Obama's change in policy on deportation.

"It really doesn't mean anything to me because he has made these statements before, in the past," activist Nataly Ibarra said.

Ibarra and other members of Dream Activists Georgia, a youth group working with undocumented students in Cobb County, met at a Mableton home Saturday night to discuss the president's shift in policy.

"We're a little disappointed that he didn't take the action of doing an executive order," activist Dulce Guerrero said.

"You see so many families being separated each day. It's unfair," Ibarra said.

Under the president's new policy, people younger than 30 that came to the United States before the age of 16, lived in the U.S. for five years and don't pose a security threat can get a two-year deferral from deportation.

"These young people are going to make extraordinary contributions and are already making contributions to our society," the president said.

"It kind of gives me a little hope, but I'll have to see it to believe it," Jesus Cruz said.

Twenty-one-year-old Cruz, an active member of Dream Activists Georgia, is here illegally and facing deportation.

He said, "I hope everything he's saying right now is good for not just me, but everybody."

Cruz was brought here from Mexico at the age of 12, making him a candidate for the new policy. But he isn't so sure it'll prevent his deportation.

"Right now he's trying to get the Latino vote just by saying people won't get deported. Like they say, we want to see action, not just words," Cruz said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.