Ten Arrested At Anti-Deportation Protest That Blocked Kennedy Expressway Ramp (VIDEO)

What began as the latest public hearing organized by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security task force to address deportation policy concerns ended in the arrest of 10 immigration reform activists on Wednesday evening in Chicago.

The activists, according to ABC 7, were part of a large contingent of those attending the hearing who took to the streets and briefly blocked traffic at the Kennedy Expressway off-ramp at Washington Street, much to the irritation of some drivers. Their goal with the act of civil disobedience? To bring attention to the Secure Communities Act, a program the activists argue is causing more harm than good to their friends, families and communities.

One protester who was arrested, Arianna Salgado, said in a statement that she was "taking action today because I cannot sit back as our families continue to be ripped apart and live in fear daily. I am undocumented, unafraid, unapologetic and determined to continue fighting against the separations of our families."

But proponents of the program, which automatically shares fingerprints from arrestees with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), see it differently. They say the program successfully locates and identifies dangerous criminals.

"They had to have a previous record," Secure Communities Assistant Director John Gurule told ABC 7. "They had to have previously arrested by immigration, they have to have a previous criminal conviction, they have to have something that their fingerprints are in the system already."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/ten-arrested-at-anti-depo_n_930649.html