“If you’re removing the name of Thomas Jefferson, one oppressor, the name of Obama is another oppressor, and our families do not want to see that name.”
Chicago-area immigration activists are protesting the renaming of a local middle school after Barack Obama due to his presidency's stance on deportations.
Activists from the District 60 school board say the former president's records on deportation show he does "not represent the undocumented community."
According to ABC 7, the Waukegan Board of Education has sought the renaming of Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Daniel Webster Middle School, due to the men having owned or supporting the ownership of slaves.
Obama, who served as a Senator for Chicago before his presidency, oversaw roughly 3.2 million deportations during his time as president.
"From the time Barack Obama became President until 2017 when he left, he today is still the highest-ranking president with deportations in our nation,” the head of a local immigration said. "We feel that Barack Obama did a disservice to us. He denied us, and he didn’t stop the deportations, the way he promised."
"If you’re removing the name of Thomas Jefferson, one oppressor, the name of Obama is another oppressor, and our families do not want to see that name."
No decision for the schools' new names have been made as of yet.
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