‘Have a heart!’ Demonstrators go face to face with SC attorney general on immigration

A group of demonstrators briefly disrupted an otherwise breezy Chapin Labor Day Parade Monday morning to protest the S.C. attorney general’s stance against legal protections for the children of illegal immigrants.

The group, about two dozen strong, waited on both sides of Chapin Road until GOP S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson and his father, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, had walked into earshot.

Then, they stepped onto the roadway, waved signs and repeatedly chanted, “Defend DACA,” referring to President Barack Obama’s 2012 executive order that protects undocumented children brought illegally into the United States from deportation.

“Have a heart!” one voice could be heard shouting from the crowd. “These are people!”

In June, Wilson joined officials from nine other states in threatening to sue the Trump Administration if it does not cancel the program.

National news outlets reported Sunday night that President Donald Trump soon will eliminate the program, ending protections for so-called “Dreamers” after a six-month delay.

Demonstrators said they came to support undocumented children who did not choose to come to America illegally but who have made a home in the United States.

“America is the only home they know,” said Rev. Dominique Grate of Calvary A.M.E. Church in Batesburg-Leesville.

Both Wilsons kept walking, and received loud cheers from the rest of the parade crowd. The rest of the crowd had booed loudly as the demonstrators stepped out and began chanting.

“The out-of-town protesters didn’t bother me in the least,” Wilson said, “but I really appreciated the hundreds of local people who cheered me right after that.”

Lillian Burke, a 23-year-old Columbia sales associate and farmer who chanted with the demonstrators, said it was important to show solidarity with undocumented immigrants. But, she said of Wilson and his father, “I didn’t think they were engaging with us.”

The demonstrators, however, saved a warm applause for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, who has filed legislation that would make DACA’s protections permanent for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

“Thank you, Dream Act,” they chanted as Graham rolled by on the back of a white convertible.

Graham shot back two thumbs up in return.

This story was originally published September 4, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "‘Have a heart!’ Demonstrators go face to face with SC attorney general on immigration."