Two Arkansans join immigration protest

Two Hispanic college students from Arkansas traveled to Capitol Hill last week and called on Congress to pass immigration legislation.

Fernando Gutierrez, a junior at University of Arkansas Fort Smith, and Xochitl Shields, a sophomore at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, joined a protest in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Although some activists were arrested for engaging in unlawful protests, the two Arkansans complied with U.S. Capitol Police orders and were not charged.

Gutierrez, 20, was brought legally to Arkansas by his parents when he was 4 or 5 years old. But they stayed in the country after their visa had expired instead of returning to Mexico, he said.

Forcing young adults like him to leave the country makes no sense, he said.

“These students that grew up in America … America’s all they know,” he said. “To throw them under the bus like that is just completely wrong. There needs to be a solution.”

Shields, 19, moved from El Salvador to Arkansas when she was 5 years old.

She has obtained a green card, she said. But she remembers what it was like to live in limbo, not knowing whether she would be allowed to stay or forced to return.

“I didn’t know if I was going to go to college,” she said. “If you’re not legal, it’s difficult to get scholarships.”

“I’m from Springdale so the Latino population there is fairly big,” she said. “I know so many students … that had my grades and had the same potential and just couldn’t fulfill it because of their legal status.”