DREAM ACTivists Acting Up: NY TIMES

Blessings to my friend Fernando for narrating his struggle and lending his time and energy to helping others. The DREAM ACTivists and folks at PUENTE are doing some awesome organizing these days. I'm glad to see the NY Times is paying attention.

Sounds of Resistance: "WE ARE HUMAN!!!"

Bullhorns at PUENTE , just one site of migrant justice organizing in Phoenix

Photo taken during cross-movement potluck held by Puente and Indigenous IDLE NO MORE activists 

(PUENTE: 1306 E. Van Buren St, Phoenix AZ)

Phoenix rally in front of ICE to support Erika Andiola's mother and siblings, who were arrested and nearly deported last week; it's believed they were targeted due to Erika's DREAM ACTivism (Jan 11, 2013). The family was reunited after nationwide protests over their planned deportation.

DREAMers banner drop at the AZ State Legislature on 2013 opening day. 

I have mized feeling about the DREAM act, myself - I don't like things that promote military service, for starters - but these young people rock!

(Phoenix New Times January 14, 2013)

---------------------------

Undocumented Reformers

January 10, 2013
New York Times

By Axel Gerdau

Despite the risk of deportation, undocumented immigrants in Arizona are organizing to influence the pending debate on immigration reform in Washington, D.C.

A DREAM Deferred: The Suicide of Joaquin Luna...

"Share the Dream"
1-10 overpass, Phoenix, AZ
May 2010

----from the World Socialist----

Texas student’s suicide highlights desperate plight of undocumented immigrants

By Ali Ismail
8 December 2011

The suicide of Joaquin Luna, a high school student in Texas, highlights the worsening plight of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Luna was a senior at Benito-Juarez-Abraham Lincoln High School, where he had a reputation among his peers as a hard-working and driven student. Despite having lived virtually his entire life in the US, Luna was undocumented.

According to his relatives, Luna had been growing increasingly anxious about his undocumented status as he grew older and was worried he’d never fulfill his dream of going to college and becoming an engineer. Luna had been particularly upset by the US Senate’s failure to pass the Dream Act late last year. The bill would have granted undocumented immigrants in higher education permanent residency status.

Luna’s suicide is a tragic consequence of the nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants being carried out by both big business parties and the Obama administration. While US President Barack Obama took office pledging to implement a comprehensive “immigration reform”, he has instead presided over a record number of deportations and has overseen massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids against undocumented immigrants across the country. The raids and deportations are part of a stepped up campaign by the ruling elite to scapegoat immigrants for the economic crisis and divide the working class along national lines.

On the night of November 25, Luna locked himself in the bathroom of his family’s Mission, Texas home and took his own life using a .38 revolver

Moments earlier, Carlos Mendoza had received a call from his younger brother, Luna, who was at their mother’s house and sounded strange on the phone. “He told me to have a good life, and when I asked him why he was saying that to me, he said: ‘Because I'm not going to be here,’”

Mendoza told the Guardian that Luna said he felt he would never accomplish his dreams. “My road is finished here,” Luna told Mendoza, who lives across the street. “I’m going away.”

Fearing the worst, Mendoza rushed to his mother’s house but arrived just in time to hear the gunshot.

Luna left behind a stack of letters written on notebook paper which he had tucked into a small Bible emblazoned with his name. When another half-brother of Luna’s, Diyer Mendoza, asked a sheriff’s investigator whether the letters mentioned Luna’s status as an undocumented immigrant, his suspicions were confirmed. Last Friday, Luna’s suicide notes were released by the sheriff.

According to Diyer Mendoza, while the letters did not explicitly mention his status, it was clearly implied. “Dear Lord, forgive me for what I am about to do tonight,” said one note. “I know it has to be done because I have no point of existence in this cruel world… I have realized that I have no chance in becoming a civil engineer the way I have always dreamed of here.”

Joaquin Luna was just six months old when his family crossed the Mexican border without visas and traveled 40 miles to the city of Mission, on the US side of the frontier. He had been born in Mexico while the family was on a trip to their native country. All five of his siblings are US citizens.

Luna’s mother and siblings worked as migrant laborers, and Luna traveled with them to Arkansas, Indiana, and Minnesota. Together, the family harvested asparagus, cotton, jalapenos, melons and tomatoes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In an essay he wrote last January entitled, “Fulfilling a dream in waiting,” Luna described the grueling conditions in which he and his family had to work. He wrote the essay in order to be considered for a scholarship. In his essay, Luna recalled the most difficult job he ever had—picking asparagus in the fields of Big Rapids, Michigan. “I still remember the hot sun and the sunburns my family and I would acquire when picking the asparagus the wrong way. That summer I struggled, it seemed like it was never coming to an end,” he wrote. “My motivation grew stronger as the season was coming to an end. I could see the tiredness and anxiety in my family’s face.”

Seeing his parents and siblings toil in fields to the point of exhaustion had a profound impact on Luna. From an early age, he was determined to make a better life for himself and his family. In his essay, Luna described why it was so important to him that he attend college. “It would make a major impact in my whole family especially to my parents who have struggled practically their whole life,” he wrote. “I want to demonstrate to them that all that agricultural work done and all those days of giving their best would have been worth it.”

At his high school, Luna excelled in college credit classes and ranked 89 in a class of 467. “He was one of the smartest kids at school. His passion was for math and engineering, and he had developed his own blueprint for designing houses by computer program,” his brother, Carlos Mendoza, told the Guardian. According to his friends, Luna avoided dating because he felt it would interfere with his studies.

As he grew older, Luna grew more and more anxious about his undocumented status and whether he would ever be able to work. According to his relatives, Luna was worried that even if he did manage to gain a college education, he might still be unable to get a job since he didn’t have a Social Security number.

Luna grew increasingly frustrated as he followed news reports about the federal government’s crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers. He was also deeply troubled by the stricter anti-immigrant laws being implemented in states like Arizona and Alabama and recent deportations in Texas. According to his brother Carlos Mendoza, “He (Luna) said the people passing these laws had no heart: how could they leave so many kids without parents and destroy so many lives?”

When the Dream Act failed to pass the Senate last year, Luna was devastated. “He got depressed real bad," said Mendoza. “Every one of us, we all get depressed. Some of us can handle it, some of us can't. Joaquin couldn’t.”

The hopes of many undocumented immigrants had been raised by the election of Barack Obama. During his campaign, Obama, with an eye to winning the Latino vote, had said that mass deportations would be “intolerable” to most Americans and that undocumented immigrants should be given a route to legal status.

But since taking office, Obama has deported over a million people, with hundreds of thousands of others being held in detention centers far away from their families. A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered nearly 200 accusations of sexual abuse of immigrant detainees.

In June 2011, the Obama administration claimed it was beginning a new policy of focusing immigration enforcement on violent criminals. However, a recent study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University has cast doubt on the administration’s claims, revealing that of deportation proceedings that took place between July and September of this year, only 13.8 percent involved people with criminal charges.

Over the past three years the hopes of undocumented immigrants like Luna have been dashed by the reactionary policies of the Obama administration.

While immigration activists have been accused of “exploiting” Luna’s death for relating it to his undocumented status, his relatives are certain that his status and his lack of hope drove him to suicide.

“I know he did it because of his legal status,” Diyer Mendoza said at his funeral last week “I lived with him; I shared time with him. I know what I know.” Carlos Mendoza told the Guardian he believes his brother took his own life for a purpose. “Everybody has a mission in life and I think this was his—to communicate to people what’s going on in America.”

Bye, Bye Miss American Pie...

!YA BASTA! (sorry, I can't do the punctuation right with this program.)

This is a compelling argument for anarchy over this facade of a democracy...

----------------------------------

Lies and Betrayals: The Coming Death of a Criminal Democratic Party

Blog: Un Pueblo Sin Fronteras

Posted by digoguerra en diciembre 29, 2010

By Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

Mark my words that the only things to have been halted in 2010 were not just immigration reform or the DREAM Act; it was also the year the Democratic Party died.

Allow me to explain.

In Washington D.C., from 2008 to 2010 in the House of Representatives, there were 257 who were Democrats; only 178 were Republican. In the Senate there were 59 Democrats; only 41 were Republicans. The Party that Latinos voted overwhelmingly for controlled two-thirds of the House of Representatives and had a majority in the Senate, for 2 years, and still they couldn’t keep their promise to you or me.

For 2 years Democrats sat around, not passing immigration reform and actively blocking passage of the DREAM Act. Most recently, the DREAM Act needed 5 votes to live and 5 Democrats voted against it and 1 Democrat had no shame and failed to vote at all!

While Republicans push white supremacy to new heights. Democrats are worse. At least we know where Republicans stand and we know they will keep their evil word. But Democrats, as liberal as they may be, are weak, they’re fence-sitters, they’re spineless, they’re hypocrites and they’re liars. If we have turned a blind eye to the Democrats’ tricks, lies and betrayals, we can no longer deny reality. Being naïve is no longer an excuse to continue supporting a party that actively works against our interests.

But let me be positive too and mention what Democrats have done for us. While Obama says he is disappointed that the DREAM Act didn’t pass and while he says no family should be torn apart, his actions and those of Department of Homeland Security head-honcho Janet Napolitano (a former Democrat governor from a little state called Arizona) have secured the following record-breaking numbers:

• “$4.6 billion to support 20,000 Border Patrol agents and complete the first segment of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) virtual border fence.
• Includes $94 million for 300 new CBP Officers for passenger and cargo screening at ports of entry as well as expansion of pre-screening operations at foreign airports and land ports of entry.
• More than $1.6 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement programs to expeditiously identify and remove from the United States illegal aliens who commit crimes. Included in this total is continued support for the Secure Communities program.
• $137 million for enhancements and expansion of immigration related verification programs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.”

So, I guess I was wrong and I misunderstood. A Democrat-sponsored immigration reform did pass and these numbers that I got from www.whitehouse.gov are the reform put into action: Record-breaking detentions, record-breaking deportations, record-breaking border militarization, record-breaking profits for private prison corporations, record-breaking police state terror, record-breaking family separations and record-breaking deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is the only Comprehensive Immigration Reform Democrats have given us.

This is immoral. These are crimes against humanity.

Let me back-track a bit. Would you vote for a Republican? I didn’t think so. How about the Tea Party? The Neo-Nazi Socialist Movement? What about the Minutemen or the K.K.K.? Of course you wouldn’t! How about a Democrat? Well, voting Democrat is not much different than voting for a white supremacist group or party (that is out of the closet). Voting Democrat means voting for more family separations because under a Democrat administration DHS intends to deport over 400,000 undocumented people in 2011; voting Democrat means voting for more deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border because under a Democrat administration DHS has received record-breaking budget for border enforcement; voting Democrat also means voting for the criminalization of migrants and people of color, because under a Democrat administration, Secure Communities, 287(g), E-verify and other programs that criminalize migrants are scheduled to expand. These points are focused on immigration; now consider where Democrats stand on electoral fraud, health care, poverty, the environment, education or the war in Iraq/Afghanistan/the world!

So… I have to ask. Why on earth would we vote Democrat? Because it’s the lesser of two evils? I don’t agree. Their rhetoric may be less evil, but their actions and their votes cast an equal amount of terror upon poor communities and communities of color.

Democrats are immoral and they are guilty of crimes against humanity.

This is not bad leadership at the top. This is not an accident. This is not a Republican/right-wing conspiracy; this is as Democratic/liberal as it gets, coming from all levels. Not even local or disagreeing Democrats are putting their bodies on the line to stop this madness coming from their own national political party they represent. Party elected officials allow business as usual to continue. I don’t care how “progressive” Congressman Raúl Grijalva may be, or how “supportive” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may be to undocumented students, both professional politicians are just as responsible and complicit in their party’s crimes against the Latino community as the rest of them.

As slave abolitionist Frederick Douglass felt about participation in the political system during slavery times, holding office or participating in electoral activity is immoral and sanctifies oppression and slavery itself.

As clear as it was back then, it is clear today that our community’s emancipation won’t come through changing this system from within. We’ve tried over and over. The results won’t be much different if we try again tomorrow. This system rests on our social/political/economic/labor oppression and exploitation. We’ve blindly believed in the Democrats and the electoral system for generations and look at where we’re at today. We only have promises, lies and betrayals to show for all of our electoral work and dependence on Democrat politricks.

In the 2010 elections it can be argued that the “Latino vote” saved the Democrats a majority in the Senate (51-46). This means that even after the Democrats for 2 years (and much longer than that) just laughed in our faces and either abstained or voted against us, we still came out to vote for them in November! This is mind-bogglingly stupid. No wonder they blocked the DREAM Act.

They know they can

1. make fake promises to us during election time,
2. get elected by our votes,
3. then they can break their promises for 2 or 4 years,
4. they will campaign again when their term is up and
5. we will vote again for the same politicians and the same Democratic party that did us wrong!

And we get exactly what we deserve. The cycle is never-ending. Why do we allow them to do this to us without political consequences?! They asked us to vote for them so they can pass immigration reform. We came through, they didn’t do their part and now we need to get rid of them. But for reals.

Pro-immigrant rights reformers love to threaten the political system with withdrawing the Latino vote. But Democrats know it’s just a front and that the High-spanic establishment is filled with ride-or-die Democratic party loyalist slaves that will suck it up, pacify the brown, angry masses and sell us out (or remain silent) for a seat at the top. Clearly we need a double revolt: not only against an oppressive, white supremacist, two-party, corporate, political system, but also against phony brown faces that proclaim to represent us.

As Malcolm X famously declared at a time when Black people faced similar political struggles: “Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that [Democratic Party] can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a [political] chump, but you’re a traitor to your race.”

We have no more excuses. What are we waiting for? Where do we go from here? What do we do? What is the alternative?

My proposal is NOT to create a new electoral political party that will work in this very same system that co-opts and corrupts any attempts at justice. It is clear that this apartheid, corporate two-party electoral political, economic system must be dismantled and replaced with local, decentralized communities based on collectivism, autonomy, justice, equality and love. I’m not being idealistic or theoretical here. We don’t need a revolution to make this happen. We can start today. We already have these elements in our communities. Let’s develop the collectivism we already exercise into an organized social, political, economic force.

But the first step is to recognize that we are in an abusive relationship with the Democratic Party—they are the abusers. If we can’t recognize that, we will never abandon them, much less create a healthy, beautiful, strong alternative to this abusive, oppressive, criminal political, social and economic system.

We’ve waited long enough.

Let’s take back our power. The answer is not in party politics; it’s inside of us, in our mothers and fathers that sacrificed everything, in our grandparents that struggled yesterday and in the youth that struggle today and tomorrow. WE have the power to RISE and create a healthy reality based on dignity and respect for all of us.

When will we declare YA BASTA with all the rage and love in our hearts?

US Senate: More DREAMS Deferred...

These three are among the bravest, finest youth in America. John McCain and the US Senate have shamed us all.


Carlos, Marlene, and Francisco: I'm so sorry. I pray that someday all your DREAMS come true. This land desperately needs more good souls like you...

-------------------from America's Voice via Common Dreams-----------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 18, 2010
11:56 AM

CONTACT: America's Voice
Michael Earls
(202) 494-8555


Senate Votes Against DREAMs

WASHINGTON - December 18 - This morning, in a procedural vote requiring 60 votes to advance the legislation, the U.S. Senate voted against the DREAM Act by a 55-41 margin, effectively shutting the doors of opportunity to thousands of bright and talented young people who grew up in America and wanted to give back to the country they call home.

The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice:

"Today we won a majority of votes in the Senate. Last week we won a majority of the votes in the House. But because of a Republican filibuster we needed 60 votes to pass DREAM and we fell short.

To those who did the right thing and voted for DREAM, you had our back and we'll have yours. But to the majority of Republicans and the handful of Democrats who voted against the best and the brightest of the Latino immigrant community, your vote against DREAM will be remembered as long as you are in politics. Many of you have expressed your sympathy for the DREAMers. But today we did not need your sympathy. We needed your vote.

As disappointed as we are in those who slammed the door of opportunity on talented young people who are Americans in all but paperwork, we are buoyed by the nationwide outpouring of support for this cause, the unprecedented mobilization in support of DREAM across the nation, and the leadership and courage of the DREAMers who came to Washington to insist on making their DREAM come true.

Where do we go from here? We will continue fighting, organizing, mobilizing and educating. We will continue to build an ever more powerful movement. We will continue to speak up and speak out for immigrant youth, for immigrant families, for immigration reform that embodies the best of our ideals rather than the worst of our fears.

We get stronger every day. We may have lost this battle, but in the war between justice and injustice, inclusion and exclusion, courage and cowardice, victory is not a matter of if, but a matter of when."



###
America's Voice -- Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform. The mission of America’s Voice is to realize the promise of workable and humane comprehensive immigration reform. Our goal is to build the public support and create the political momentum for reforms that will transform a dysfunctional immigration system that does not work into a regulatory system that does.

------------So, what do we do now? A reminder from Arundhati Roy:---------

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness, and our ability to tell our own stories..."

Go Dream Fasters!

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the DREAM Act, as indicated elsewhere in my blogs. But I have no doubts about the youth who have risked their own freedom, safety, and dreams fighting to get it passed - even in the latest, watered-down form: Those kids ROCK! They're already citizens of the country I believe we could be, in my book. 

Anyway, look at what I found on 16th St. and Missouri when the sun came up this morning:

Okay, I admit, I was actually there last night, too. So were the Phoenix Police...good thing it's not against the law...

Drop by there this week and support these young people. They're fighting for a better world for us all...

Kyl and McCain: Deliver the DREAM.

UPDATE December 9, 2010: I'm leaving the post below as is, but first want to refer folks to a well-articulated opposition to the DREAM Act (which has recently been degraded to a real nightmare through too many compromises). This was written in September - I just pulled it off of the sb1070resistance blog today (where it was posted last night). Click the title and follow the link to read:

Letter to the DREAM Movement: My Painful Withdrawal of Support for the DREAM Act

by Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

---------------------------------------------

This came into my box this weekend from the Border Action Network. I oppose the militarized aspect of the DREAM Act, but I oppose the selfish, small-minded people who want to deport the youth I posted about earlier even more. So, if you care about the kids begging for help to pass the DREAM Act, call your senators pronto. It really does matter when they add up constituent yeas and nays at the end of the day.

------------------------------

Urgent Action Alert!

US Senate to vote on the DREAM Act this week!

Photo by DreamActivist- Ruben Hernandez

In September, the Senate lacked only a few votes to pass the DREAM Act. Senator Harry Reid has promised to bring this legislation to the Senate floor again in the week after Thanksgiving recess, and we need your emails and phone calls to win this first step toward immigration reform!

Click Here to Send a Message to Your Senators!

Even though the majority of the public supports the DREAM Act, opponents are flooding Senators’ phone lines and email inboxes. This may be one of our only chances to make something good happen on immigration in Congress this year, and just seconds of your time could change the lives of over one million young people.

Please Take 30 Seconds and Send a Message to Your Senators Telling Them to SUPPORT the DREAM ACT!

After you've emailed, call your Senators and ask them to support the DREAM Act:

English: 866-996-5161
Spanish: 866-961-4293

Call Republican Senators who are on the fence:

English: 866-587-6101
Spanish: 866-956-3902

If you live in Arizona, you can also call Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl at these local offices:

Senator McCain

Phoenix: (602) 952-2410
Prescott: (928) 445-0833
Tempe: (480) 897-6289
Tucson: (520) 670-6334

Senator Kyl

Phoenix: (602) 840-1891
Tucson : (520) 575-8633


When you're done, be sure to forward this email to all of your contacts! Thank you for taking action!

--

Undocumented and Unafraid: DREAM ACT visits ICE in Phoenix

From Dennis Gilman, stories of courageous youth reminding us of who we could be. Sadly, the only person in this video elected to represent Arizona is Russ Pearce - descended from the most criminal aliens of all, and determined to re-write our Constitution to further privilege his own kind...

Stop the Militarization of the DREAM ACT Petition

Hey All -

Here's a new petition from Change.org addressing some of the problems with the proposed DREAM Act. I was surprised to find it. Please take a close look and see if it's something you can support. If so, please follow the link at the bottom, sign and pass it on; there are only 499 signatures so far.

----------------------

"Yo Soy El Army: America's New Military Caste" from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

Stop the Militarization of the DREAM Act!

Targeting: The U.S. Senate, The U.S. House of Representatives, Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), Sen. Russ Feingold (WI), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10), and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)The U.S. Senate, The U.S. House of Representatives, Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), Sen. Russ Feingold (WI), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10), and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)

Started by: Brian Galaviz

The DREAM Act has been promoted as a chance for many undocumented youth to gain "legalization." It has been touted as an education bill. However, college attendance rates are low for many undocumented immigrants, especially latino/as. Little is done to help undocumented youth go to college. Therefore, this will force many youth to choose the military option as their only choice for legalization. We believe this is immoral and an unfair choice.

If you believe that the DREAM Act is flawed because the only two options are college or the military. If you want to see the military option removed from the DREAM Act, please sign our petition

Greetings,

Though the DREAM Act provides a pathway to legalization for some youth by going to college, we believe that high school graduation rates and the resources available for our communities to obtain a higher education will give an unfair advantage to military recruitment. That is, we believe that the DREAM Act will cause a de facto draft. The military will prey upon the fact that the vast majority of undocumented youth will not go to college. It will prey upon undocumented youth because the DREAM Act does little to help youth go to college. While there may be youth who do in fact benefit, we believe that the cost of sending thousands of undocumented youth to war is an unfair, immoral and unjust price to pay.

That is why we urge you to remove the military component of the DREAM Act and replace it with 910 hours of community service or employment. The 910 hours of community service was actually in the original DREAM Act. We believe the service component was removed to force more youth to “choose” the military option.

Further, we applaud the youth who put their lives on the line and risk deportation in their struggles to pass the DREAM Act. We simply wish to push the DREAM Act in a more just direction, a direction which will not victimize immigrants in the US and civilians in countries which the US attacks.

We also recognize that the DREAM Act does not address our fundamental demand of LEGALIZATION FOR ALL. The DREAM Act does not stop the separation of families. The DREAM Act does not stop deportations. The DREAM Act does not stop the terrorism that occurs in our communities and our families everyday.

Points:

1) The original DREAM Act already had the community service component. We simply wish this component to be re-added and replace the military component.

2) Military contracts are never for two years. They are always substantially longer. The DREAM Act is deceitfully worded to make the public believe that two years of military service is enough. Military contracts are generally for eight years.

3) The military will prey upon undocumented youth because less than 30% of latino/s have ever been even one day to college*

4) Only 11% of latino/as have a college degree. *

5) While latino/as are not the only immigrants affected, it is latino/a blood which will be spilled, because we have the lowest high school and college graduation rate of any group in the US *

6) What kind of “choice” will youth have with these statistics? It is not a real choice. It is an illusion that it is a real choice. The youth could also “chose” to return to their country of origin, but we refuse that as a viable option as well. This is their home and the youth wish to stay here, the land which they recognize and call home.

7) The DREAM Act doesn’t help youth graduate high school. If a single piece of legislation could help the horrendous high school graduation rates for minorities in the US, a bill would have been crafted years ago. Education disparities are complex issues that would be difficult to fix with simple legislation. After decades of disinvestment, it will take years or decades to fix our education system.

8) The DREAM Act doesn’t help make going to college easier. States don’t have to give undocumented students in-state tuition, and only 11 do. The DREAM Act doesn’t give students this benefit. It also makes federal assistance out the question. Pell grants are probably the single greatest thing that could truly help college attainable.

*- these are figures from the latest available US Census - http://www.hacu.net/hacu/Data,_Statistics,_and_Research1_EN.asp?SnID=2

------------------SIGN THE PETITION--------------------

Solidarity With DREAMers

Spotted hanging over the I-10 during this morning's rush hour.

(liberties taken with color and hue)

DREAM Activists Sit-in, Arrested at McCain's Tucson Office.

This email floored me when I got it last night. These kids have more courage than most American citizens. They've put everything on the line for the DREAM Act. The least the rest f us can do is can McCain and tell him we want these kids free and legal. How can anyone think they'd be anything but a blessing to our nation? They already are.


Here are McCain's Senate office numbers:

• 
  

  Phoenix Office: (602) 952-2410

• 
  

  Prescott Office: (928) 445-0833

• 
  

  Tempe Office: (480) 897-6289

• 
  

  Tucson Office: (520) 670-6334

• 
  

  Washington Office: (202) 224-2235

  And here are his campaign office numbers. 

   Phoenix Office: 602-604-2010                      Tucson Office: 520-327-2773

  Boy is his campaign site looking scary...he's really turned anti-immigrant - and didn't mention a thing in his news releases about having those Dream Activists arrested, of course. I don't see how he can keep all his promises to the Latino community when he's so busy sucking up to the far right...

  Made my call, and registered my voice to free those youth and push the DREAM act through. It'll only take you two or three minutes to do the same - just pick an office and dial.

---------------------------The Dream is Coming--------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Juan (407) 602-8675,
Flavia de la Fuente (949) 910-6362
media@thedreamiscoming.com
 
DETAINED in Arizona: Four Student Immigrant Leaders
Peacefully Resist Current Immigration Law, Urge Passage of DREAM Act

As of 6:00 PM PST Monday May 17, Mohammad, Yahaira, Lizbeth and Raul, an Arizona Resident, have been arrested and detained after their day long sit-in at Senator John McCains Office in Tucson, AZ. Tania, who was not detained, has been designated as spokesperson and will be relating the experiences/thoughts of the group during the action.

Senator John McCain offered the students a meeting in order to discuss the Dream Act, however, the students recognize that this is insufficient and that immediate action is needed to pass the DREAM Act!

Tucson, Arizona. May 17th, on the anniversary of landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education, Arizona law enforcement arrested four undocumented leaders of the immigrant student movement in addition to Arizona native Raul Alcaraz. Lizbeth Mateo of Los Angeles, California; Tania Unzueta of Chicago, Illinois; Mohammad Abdollahi of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Yahaira Carrillo of Kansas City, Missouri; were detained Tucson, Arizona, after staging a sit-in at Senator John McCain’s office. With this challenge to local and federal law, these youth hope to highlight the urgency of legislative action in Congress, and catalyze mass grassroots mobilization to pass the DREAM Act before June 15th.

These four leaders are risking deportation from the United States in the hope that this action will make a significant contribution to the fight for immigrant rights. In response to the onslaught of enforcement-based immigration law, they staged a sit-in at Senator McCain’s office, and urged congressional leadership to champion the DREAM Act and the values it represents: hard work, education, and fairness.


Lizbeth, 25, an organizer with DREAM Team Los Angeles, states, "There are already ten other states across the country considering immigration legislation similar to Arizona’s: legislation that is anti-family, anti-democratic, and anti-freedom. Police states and enforcement are quickly becoming the standard, and we are running out of time. We are going to pass the DREAM Act because it is based on freedom and equality."


Mohammad, 24, co-founder of DreamActivist.Org, a resource web portal for undocumented students, said in a statement: "Never in our history has it been American to deny people their civil rights. We have decided to peacefully resist to encourage our leaders to pass the DREAM Act and create a new standard for immigration reform based on education, hard work, equality, and fairness."
At least 65,000 undocumented immigrant youth graduate from high schools every year, and many of them struggle to attend institutes of higher education and the military. The DREAM Act will grant youth who traveled to the United States before the age of 16 a path to citizenship contingent on continuous presence in the country, good behavior, and the attainment of at least a two-year university degree or a two-year commitment to the armed forces.

"During the civil rights movement, African-American students were arrested for sitting down at lunch counters. We’ve been detained for standing on a sidewalk. We can't wait any longer for the DREAM Act to pass," said Tania, 26, co-founder of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, and immigrant rights organizer in Chicago.

All four are leaders in their own communities and have dedicated years to work for immigrant rights, legalization for undocumented immigrants, and the DREAM Act. “Dr. King spoke of a dream of equality overcoming fear. Well, the fierce urgency of our dreams has overcome any kind of fear we may have had before. We can’t wait,” concluded Yahaira, 25, a founder of the Kansas Missouri Dream Alliance.

National Press Conference
Tuesday May 18th
9 AM Pacific, 11 PM Central, Noon EST

In front of Senator John McCain’s office:
407 West Congress Street
Tucson, AZ 85701

Change We Can Believe In: The DREAM ACT, Please.

From the folks at Dreamactivist. Sorry not to get this up sooner:

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Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL-4) has introduced the long-awaited immigration legislation titled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP)."

Rep. Gutierrez has been a long-time supporter of the DREAM Act and recently co-sponsored the legislation, which will be part of this larger bill.

We know you may have questions and want to find out more about this new bill. Hence, we are excited to host a call this Wednesday to clarify key aspects of this immigration bill, with a special focus on the DREAM Act components.

Click here to RSVP and get call-in information.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 16, 2009

English: 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST
Spanish: 6:30 PM EST / 3:30 PM PST

WHO:

• Mark Silverman, Director of Immigration Policy, Immigrant Legal Resource Center
• Mohammad, Co-Founder and Field Organizer, DreamActivist.org (English)
• Lizbeth Mateo, DREAM Team Los Angeles (Spanish)

Do send us your questions and comments when you RSVP, we will try and answer as many as we can. http://action.dreamactivist.org/r/216/13068/0

We will send you call-in information via text message or email on Wednesday morning.

Feel free to forward this email to your colleagues, family and friends.

Sincerely,

DreamActivist Team

Nightmare of a Dream Student - C. Rodriguez

Here's something else to chew on in the meantime; it came to my attention via the guys at Private Corrections Institute. It's very poignantly written. If you haven't been to this court proceeding in Tuscon, you need to go, then come home and write to everyone you know about it. It's gut-wrenching what we call justice when we dispose of our excess labor in America - what we do to human beings.
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Nightmare of a Dream Student

New America Media, Commentary

Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Posted: Oct 26, 2009

TUCSON, Ariz. -- I’ll refer to her as Leticia X.

She is undocumented, but has been in this country since the age of three and is a top student at her high school. Yet, unless the law changes soon, she will be unable to continue with her studies. She tells my students at the University of Arizona that it is wrong that she will not be able to attend college next year: “I consider myself a U.S. citizen. It’s the only country I’ve ever known.”

Her symbolic mother is Leticia A -- a student who set the legal precedent in 1982 in Plyler v. Doe in Texas, permitting undocumented students to be able to attend public K-12 schools, without having to pay exorbitant out-of-state tuition.

Today, Leticia X struggles to change this policy to include K-16 students. If out-of-state fees are exorbitant for out of state K-12 students, the rates are stratospheric for out-of-state college students, generally costing tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

Leticia X is part of a nationwide movement – nearly a decade old – to pass legislation that would permit students such as her, to be able to attend college at in-state rates. It’s called the DREAM Act. A majority of members of Congress support it, but since 2001, they’ve never been able to garner the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to bring it to a full vote (cloture). It even has a controversial provision that was injected into it that would permit students to also qualify for U.S. residency by first going into the military for two years. A terrible compromise, but even that has not worked.

It pains me that I cannot publicly identify Leticia X. The irony is that she, like many other DREAM students do identify themselves in public. Apparently, they are more trusting of government than I am.

You have to understand, she was making her plea before my students in Arizona – the New South. It’s also the Old South.

Last week, I took my students to witness Operation Streamline, a Homeland Security program that targets undocumented migrants in specific zones with immediate prosecution and deportation. Nothing I told them could prepare them for what they saw. Several left early, crying, unable to continue to witness what passes for a judicial proceeding.

Here, at Tucson’s Federal Court, there are daily tax-payer-funded show trials in which 70 to 80 defendants, undocumented migrants all, are convicted in one hour. It’s the racial element and the shackles around the ankles, waist and hands that shock the conscience.

In one hour, they are tried, convicted and deported or sent to a private prison (Corrections Corporation of America). It is the breakneck speed that profoundly damages the human spirit and the integrity of the courtroom. As one of my students commented: “They’re like cattle being led to the slaughter.”

But back to Leticia X. Her story is gut wrenching. She is bright and articulate, and hard-working to a fault. She studies even when she’s sick because she believes she has earned the right to go to college. She is, figuratively, a dream student.

If the law does not change by December, she will not be attending a U.S. college next year.

It is difficult to imagine why anyone would be opposed to seeing her go off to college. She knows no other home and barely speaks Spanish.

The larger tragedy is that her story is repeated 65,000 times every year nationwide. There would be many more, but many drop out, not seeing the point of continuing to attend high school. What I really want to do is call the National Hispanic Scholarship Foundation and ask them why they are opposed to creating a special fund to help the Leticia Xes of this nation. Nothing in the law prevents them from doing so.

However, Leticia X is undaunted and courageous. She tells me she has no problem with me using her true name. I dare not expose her to the Joe Arpaios and Lou Dobbs of the world.

President Barack Obama promised a humane solution to the immigration crisis. Humane? Yes. Leticia X is a full human being.

Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com