Undocumented and unafraid: Pushing for the DREAM Act
by Gustavo Martínez on Jul 23 2010 Posted in Social justice in education
Risking deportation, immigrant student activists are escalating their pressure on legislators to approve the DREAM Act.
Last Tuesday, 21 of them were arrested in Washington D.C. after staging a couple of sit-ins during the weeklong series of actions around their “The DREAM Is Coming” campaign.
“We did this because we have lobbied, sent letters and emails, made phone calls, and met with people in Congress. But we feel the Congress is not listening to us,” said María Marroquín, a student organizer with the campaign.
Similar actions have taken place in Arizona. In late May, three immigrant students were among those arrested after staging a sit-in at Senator John McCain’s office in Phoenix.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not have contact with the arrested students in either instance, but the activists know what could happen to them.
“All of the students were aware (of risk of deportation) and ready to stand up not only for themselves but for all the students,” Marroquín said. “They are aware of what can happen.”
Through a spokesperson, Senator Richard Durbin, one of the co-sponsors of the bipartisan bill, disapproved of these latest demonstrations.
"Today's demonstrations by some DREAM Act supporters ... crossed the line from passionate advocacy to inappropriate behavior. The tide of public opinion has long been on the side of the DREAM Act - it has broad bipartisan support in Congress and poll after poll shows that people of all political persuasion believe in its goals. Sen. Durbin believes that we will win this fight on the merits, not through public demonstrations or publicity stunts."
But what is unfortunate, Marroquín said, is that students have to face deportation in order for Congress to pay attention.
“We believe it is inappropriate that they have taken 10 years to pass this bill and in the meantime they keep deporting students,” she said. “But if this is what it takes, we’ll risk even if it means deportation.”
The DREAM Act is a bipartisan legislation that would give qualifying undocumented youth a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship that requires completion of a college degree or two years of military service.
We featured María back in November 2009, when she told the Notebook why this fight is personal for her.
Comments (4)
Submitted by omniscient (not verified) on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 21:04.
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Submitted by Annonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 06:38.
I have had a few students who were not able to go to a four year college because of their immigration status. If a child is brought to the US by his/her parent at a young age, the child should not be penalized when s/he turns 18. It often takes civil disobedience to bring injustice to light. I hope the "powers that be" realize the Dream Act, in the long run, makes more sense than deportation.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/05/2010 - 09:17.
These DREAMERs should look for scholarships thru the National Hispanic Legal and Education Fund. There may also be scholarships for them thru Univision and the Jorge Ramos support group.
This could be the solution to the DREAMERs dilemma. They could attend school on these scholarships and then be ready when immigration reform passes. Much of the opposition to the DREAM act is the taxpayer supported cost.
Submitted by Maria (not verified) on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 22:12.
You're right. There are some scholarships out there that don't ask for a SSN or proof of citizenship. Unfortunately, most of them do. But the DREAM Act will not cost the taxpayers anything. Under the bill, dreamers will be eligible for only work-study programs or federal loans (which they have to pay back, plus interest). They will not be eligible for pell grants or any sort of government aid. I think the reason some people are opposed to the DREAM Act is because they are not well-informed about it, especially about the cost to taxpayers (which is nothing). On the contrary, the DREAM Act will help our economy because we'll have educated college graduates who will join the workforce and pay higher taxes.
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