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comprehensive immigration reform

I Expect More (Action) Mr. President

May 10, 2011

I feel that those of us that care about the immigration issue have been jilted by President Barack Obama’s Administration. First came those flowery promises of how things would be if we supported him and stood by him–especially at the polls. Then after a brief courtship, we all believed and even hoped relief was soon in sight. Some of us even went out in the rain to tell others of how things would be different if we just chose him, after all he was the one. He said that things would be different and even said in our language “Si Se Puede.” He said it wasn’t just about him though, that this election was about US and the combined power that we have to change things. Soon after his election, however, after he and his army had gone around building up hope where none had previously existed, we waited for his promises to take form. But nothing much happened on his end. Contrary to what he implied in his speech on immigration today, there has already been a movement to push the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform forward. I dare say the President wouldn’t be giving his speech today if this movement didn’t exist and wasn’t pressuring him to do something to bring his promises of immigration reform to fruition.

THERE’S ALREADY A NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Within months of President Obama assuming his new position a national movement began to take form–Reform Immigration FOR America, RI4A. There were people across the entire country, across various national and statewide organizations working on building up a movement to push for the passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. By the end of 2009 more organizers were hired to help create an actual movement. For better or worse, we had for the first time in my life, a massive, national movement of people working and committed to passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform in these United States. We all agreed to certain principles of what reform looked like for us. Our movement isn’t homogenous and of course some dissented in the principles and the order in which they were presented, but ultimately we all agreed that immigration reform was long overdue.  Even if some immigrant allies/organizations weren’t officially on board with RI4A, we were still working together trying to move towards the same goal–to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Thousands of people were trained on movement building across the nation. With the guidance of DC insiders, again for better or worse ;-) we were told that Comprehensive Immigration Reform was the way to go and I don’t recall any dissent on this notion.  I bought into this notion too and didn’t have a crystal ball to see that this wouldn’t necessarily be the only target/goal.

At this point it’s early 2010: President Obama still hadn’t done much for immigration besides say 38 words in his State of the Union address (serious disappointment) and the RI4A national campaign was officially re-launched with much excitement across the nation! We honestly believed that by that Spring we were going to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I believed this 100% and was instilling hope in others that this would come to pass if we did our part to move it along. We worked our asses off–both paid staff and our volunteers, the soul of our movement!

The other hot button issue at that time was Health Care Reform and this is when we realized, hmm immigration reform isn’t the only priority. As that issue was getting scalding hot, we kept organizing business allies, faith allies, other immigrant communities. We went to college campuses organizing students, we collected petitions, we went on the airwaves, we did absolutely everything–well almost–necessary. There were even some DREAM students who began a 1,500 mile journey from Miami to DC to raise awareness on the DREAM Act and on the urgency of passing immigration reform. By March 2010 we had also organized a March For America, bringing together 250,000 people from across the nation. From North Carolina alone we organized over 50 buses! As life would have it, in the days leading up to this enormous march–the biggest on immigration that DC had ever seen–we realized that Health Care Reform would be voted on the same day as our march. OUCH! But there was no stopping our already moving train.

STATES TO THE RESCUE–I MEAN DETRIMENT

The Spring of 2010 was rough. Not only were my personal hopes dashed when I saw the Schumer-Graham Immigration Blueprint–these were are “leaders” on this issue for goodness sake! I definitely expected more than their heavy on enforcement and criminalizing blueprint. Still, I thought, we can at least begin discussions on immigration and craft a better blueprint which will hopefully soon become legislation. We were working to make this happen. None of that happened however. What did happen was that Arizona began to take on the issue of Immigration at the state level and this coincided with diminishing hope that CIR would move along at the federal level.

In the late Spring of 2010, Arizona passed SB 1070, the “Show me your Papers” law despite incredible pushback, boycotts and community organizing. Since then, several states have produced copycat legislation and a few, like Utah and Georgia, have even passed similar xenophobic legislation and are experiencing pushback. At the point that Arizona was moving towards passing SB 1070 the Obama Administration held conversations with the Governor Brewer and the Department of Justice focused attention on limiting the reach of SB 1070, but that was it. Again, a missed opportunity to address Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The DREAM Movement

While all of this was happening we started seeing DREAMer students and allies organizing and taking part in civil disobedience. Another parallel movement was born last year too–the movement to pass the DREAM Act. In the spring, some students were coming out of the shadows and were revealing for the first time, and in a very public way, that they are undocumented. The DREAM Act was elevated by the students directly affected by this issue and their allies, perhaps after seeing that CIR no longer had much traction and refusing to see their lives and worth diminished by the lack of courage that our Congress demonstrated. The summer of 2010 brought the DREAM Act into the consciousness of the American public.  There were marches, rallies, petitions, hunger strikes and movement building in young communities in every pocket of our nation.

In the fall we saw the DREAM Act finally on Congress’ radar when they added it as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. That bill eventually did not move. DREAMers persevered and were successful in getting it on Congress’ radar once more and actually passed in the House later in the year! By this point DREAMers were everywhere, getting face time with Congressional leaders and were bringing their stories to DC. Across the country, support for the DREAM Act was generated and 5 days later the Senate took this issue up. Unfortunately, good bills go to die in the Senate and with the help of 5 Democrats, Republican Senators filibustered and blocked further movement on the DREAM Act.

IT’S YOUR TURN TO DO SOMETHING MR. PRESIDENT & CONGRESS

Today, we heard the President speak on the need for Immigration Reform from El Paso, Texas. The speech seems to have been aimed at moderates who’ve potentially not made up their minds on the issue of immigration. The speech fell on disappointed ears for those of us who were already aware of the need for immigration reform. The heavy militarization of the border was glorified and the record-breaking deportations were highlighted as a success for this administration. It was curious that the President boasted of all the things that his administration has done to crack down on unlawful immigration to gain support from Republicans while a few breaths later he acknowledged that “they’ll never be satisfied.” So if you, Mr. President, and your administration already know that, why play along and sacrifice the lives of DREAMers who could very well be the next José Hernández–the migrant farmworker turned astronaut for NASA?

Personally, I’m tired of hearing talk about the need for immigration reform. I expect actions and I don’t mean more local immigration enforcement through broken programs like 287g or Secure Communities which hurt communities and separate thousands of families for minor violations–not even crimes–such as fishing without a license. Dr. King once wrote that often bitterness is turned towards those who build up hope, he was on the receiving end of this a few times himself. While I know that some in our movement are bitter towards this administration (and who could blame them), I’m still hopeful yet realistic. I’m hopeful because regardless of how our movement came to exist, it DOES exist! People are working around the clock to inform their friends, neighbors and anyone who’ll listen on the ugliness that exists as a result of Congresses failure to pass the DREAM Act and/or Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I’m hopeful because there is a movement to cease to use the term “illegal” which creates an unfair bias in our dialogue and dehumanizes our fellow brothers and sisters. I’m hopeful because for every time that we stumble, we pick ourselves back up and continue to fight with more heart than ever. Dr. King also wrote the following: “Let us be those creative dissenters who will call our beloved nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness.” I know that we will pass the DREAM Act and eventually Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We have the tools that we need and we keep sharpening our minds and opening hearts. Our movement is built and keeps moving swiftly thanks to the many creative dissenters who comprise it. Now it’s time for President Obama to keep this issue on his radar (and we’ll see to this) and to give this issue as much priority as he once promised he would in his courtship of our communities.

PS: The DREAM Act will be reintroduced on May 11th at 10:15am

Watch Sen. Durbin’s video and check out the press conference at this link.

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Have I Told You…

November 24, 2010

A few days ago I came across the new book by President Obama, Of Thee I Sing. This treasure of a book is written in a kind of call and response way. The prompt is “Have I ever told you that you are ___adjective___” and then the facing page highlights the story of someone in US history whose life and contributions to our shared history depicts the adjective described in the preceding page.

In these days as we near a vote on the DREAM Act I am inspired to share with others the incredible plight and pride that I’ve witnessed and experienced in the movement for immigrant rights.While I know that I won’t be able to capture everything and everyone I’ve experienced, I’d like to share what I consider the highlights of this year. I invite you to add and write about your experiences as well if you have already been connected to this movement.

Have I told you that you are incredible?

A year ago most of us who have been active in the immigrant rights movement (Comprehensive Immigration Reform/DREAM) in North Carolina and across the nation did not know one another. Then a movement building training happened on December 5th and 6th in Raleigh. These trainings expanded across the nation in the months after, training thousands of community members including immigrants and non-immigrants, allies, youth, faith leaders, and many others. This was the first time that we began to see the foundation of an actual grassroots movement led and fueled by those affected by the broken immigration system and their allies. Though not everything was perfect, the biggest gain of this initial movement was seeing how relationships began to forge and we too began to see the power that we have as a collective. Days after our NC training, we took action by filling an entire room at the hearing of the NC Community College System on whether to allow undocumented immigrants in their institutions. Many leaders have risen from these trainings and are the spark that has reignited the fire for DREAM to be where it is today.

Have I told you that you are resilient, even in the face of the worst storms?

On the week of April 23rd the community in Arizona gathered in a peaceful prayer vigil in protest of the SB 1070, which perpetuates racial profiling. A small group grew to a few dozen and within a few days had escalated to thousands in Arizona and across the nation standing in solidarity with the community in Arizona who were facing the most xenophobic law in recent memory (even the Department of Justice has intervened). Everyone across the nation was eager to support the immigrant and minority community of Arizona by holding prayer vigils of their own and by raising awareness of SB 1070 and its effects not only in Arizona but also in other states who soon began to push copycat bills in their own legislative bodies. The community in Arizona held hands, prayed, organized walk outs, made their voices heard and fought with dignity against this incredible tide of hatred.

Have I told you that you are bold and courageous?

In January we began to hear of the Trail of DREAMS, a group of four students who began a journey by walking 1,500 miles from Miami to D.C. to raise awareness on the urgent need of immigration reform and the DREAM Act. By revealing their legal status, they too began to put a human face to the issue of immigration not only in the southeastern states they traversed but also at a national level. By early Spring, hundreds of other undocumented students across the nation participated in “Undocumented and Unafraid” Coming Out events in their communities. For the first time in this movement for immigrant rights, students were stepping out of the shadows and stating openly that they are undocumented. They were freeing themselves from the burden of what for many was a long held secret, known only to their families. This year we saw the birth of a true, national immigrant and ally movement led in great part by students and would-be students. This continues to live in the tradition of other movements including the Civil Rights movement.

Have I told you that you are visionary?

In the spirit of students and youth from previous movements leading and shining a light on their struggles and that of their community, North Carolina has seen a rise in action by immigrant and non-immigrant youth alike. In the early summer, several youth began a hunger fast to raise awareness on the DREAM Act and to call on their community to take action by asking Senator Kay Hagan to support the DREAM Act. Youth action intensified with a hunger strike conducted by three undocumented young women which lasted two weeks. The hunger strike was held in plain sight of legislators at the NC General Assembly, near the Governor’s mansion and down the street from Senator Hagan’s office. The birth of NC DREAM Team was perhaps one of the biggest successes this year, in my opinion. This group has carved out a place for undocumented youth to belong and lead alongside allies, while raising awareness on the urgency of the DREAM Act as a down payment on immigration reform. Undocumented youth across the nation have also been participating in civil disobedience in various Senators’ offices and even in front of the White House on May 1st. They can be seen at town hall meetings that their Senators’ conduct, keeping the issue of the DREAM Act in constant sight of these power brokers. We will not relent, not even when others say that DREAM will not happen, nor Comprehensive Immigration Reform because we are willing to fight with all of our might in order to keep our families together and to provide opportunities through the acquisition of education for all youth.

Have I told you that you inspire a hopeful future?

I continue to be amazed by all of the accomplishments that our movement has achieved in less than a year! On top of organizing consistently and often unlike any other time (with regards to immigration reform) we have also kept our promise of voting and participating in civic engagement. In North Carolina alone, we were able to register several thousand eligible voters, most of them youth; we also reached out to over 15,000 registered voters to remind them to vote leading up to the elections. In my opinion, it was our participation that helped push back on the Congressional shifts that happened most everywhere else in the nation.

We’ve brought together 250,000 people in D.C. all clamoring for immigration reform, we’ve mobilized millions by sharing our stories, we’ve acquired and refined organizing skills, we’ve created a solid immigrant rights movement, we’ve established relationships with people who are now like family to us, we’ve marched, we’ve voted, we’ve engaged our friends and family, we’ve prayed for an entire summer, we’ve held die-ins, we’ve held elected officials accountable, we’ve called Congress, we’ve written letters, we’ve fought tirelessly for our detained brothers and sisters, we’ve held our heads high when others tried so hard to knock us down.

I’ve met the most incredible people this year who have not only survived, even this immigration enforcement climate and despite all of the half-truths and myths floating around about our community. The people I’ve met have thrived and excelled with what has been given to them. They have been brave, dignified and have conducted their work with the utmost integrity. I have no doubt that regardless of what happens in the coming days, our movement will not die rather it will strengthen. We will have ups and downs but so long as we keep present that we are fighting for the same outcome and for the same community we will continue to succeed as we have thus far. It has been an honor being in this movement with so many of you, my brothers and sisters. We shall overcome.

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We Are Counting on YOU for DREAM

September 16, 2010

The time that so many have been walking for, sitting in for, starving for, getting arrested for is approaching. Earlier this week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada stated at a press briefing that the DREAM Act would be added onto the Defense Authorization bill as an amendment. Said bill is up for a vote next Tuesday, September 21st. In short, the DREAM Act has a shot at actually moving next week after being idle in Congress since 2007 and being introduce a decade ago.  The DREAM Act would provide certain undocumented students with the opportunity to earn permanent legal status if they came to the United States as children, have good moral character, finish high school or obtain a G.E.D., and complete two years of college or military service.

While the DREAM Act alone isn’t comprehensive immigration reform, it is a step towards CIR and it is the only thing that has traction at the present time (though Sen. Menendez will introduce a CIR bill later this year). There is a lot of energy around the DREAM Act, particularly from youth and their allies who will no longer be silenced by fear. The broken immigration and education systems have been mutilating the dreams of millions of students across the country for years. Some students have become so despondent that they’ve even taken their own life. I’ve met many students who have openly admitted to me their own struggles with thoughts of suicide due to their legal status. We are at a critical moment when we can offer relief to the undocumented youth who came to this country through no fault of their own and who have done everything that has been asked of them as students and members of our communities.

I’m reminded of all of the courageous Dreamers that I have had the honor of knowing over these last 10 years. In my mind I see the faces of Carla, a young woman whom I’ve seen transform from a quiet, sports loving enthusiast to an active, committed organizer putting into practice her excellent leadership qualities learned on and off the soccer field. She dreams of being a doctor. I think of Mariano who made the difficult decision of returning to Mexico even though it meant being separated from his family who remain in North Carolina. I see the faces of Manuel, Carolina, Sem, Talina, Rosario, Viri, Loida, Felipe, Carlos, Gaby and so many others. Too many. All of these youth are ours and we must do right by them by supporting the DREAM Act and urging our Senators to support this legislation!

Providing these students an opportunity to live up to their potential reflects the values upon which our nation was founded. To continue to waste their talents is wrong. The DREAM Act is not amnesty as some elected officials have erroneously stated, since students would have to earn legalization. As the DREAM Act finally is dusted off by being added as an amendment to another bill next week, we will need the support of Senator Kay Hagan (for those of us in NC) who has been reluctant to support DREAM to date, instead opting to wait until Comprehensive Immigration Reform comes along.

We need the help of allies and supporters like you now more than ever! The choice for you is clear. Will you take 2 minutes to call your Senator every day to urge him/her to support the DREAM Act? Or will you sit back and do nothing and allow your silence to be permission for continued inaction and broken dreams? The DREAMs of 2.1 million youth rests in our ability to make more calls than our opposition and expressing loud and clear that we are serious when we say that DREAM can’t wait 10 more years!

Call now: 1888-254-5087 or 1-866-996-5161. Don’t get discouraged by busy signals–just keep trying until you get in. Once you call, encourage your friends to do the same and repeat every day.

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