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White House Response to Senators’ Letter on Deferred Action : Send in the Latina Yes Mujer?

8:51 am By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Immigration|Obama|Politics · 10 Comments

15 Apr 2011

Yesterday, I told you about the letter sent to President Obama, signed by 22 Senators, asking him to stop the deportation of DREAMers and to grant deferred action. In the letter, they lay out very clearly that he has the authority to do it.

The official White House response came via Cecilia Munoz, former Senior Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and current Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House.

In an interview which aired yesterday on Univision, (this link autoplays in case you are at work), Munoz said that the answer is a legislative one, passing the DREAM Act, and said that there could be a better way to deal with DREAMers cases, but on a one by one basis. Munoz says :

…the President cannot say that he will ignore the law and not apply it for a group of people on a large scale.

Munoz asserts the same position in an interview with Telemundo (autoplay link), that Obama cannot defer the deportations of a whole group of students, but that an option is to do so on a one by one basis.
Read more…

A DREAM Activist and Friend Faces Deportation

12:32 pm By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Immigration · 8 Comments

12 Apr 2011

The numerous posts I have written throughout the years pushing for calls, petitions and support for people who would have/could have been eligible to live in the U.S. without fear, namely the DREAMers, is proof of the deception of the Obama administration.

On April 1st, it was reported that Department of Homeland Security head, Janet Napolitano said that DREAMers were not targets for immigration. Whoever believed this was fool. Recently, activist and friend, Prerna Lal received notice that she was being placed in removal proceedings.

From her website :

The Notice to Appear for a Master Hearing is for November 10, 2011, just four days short of my 12 year anniversary in this country.

(So much for Barack Obama not deporting DREAM-eligible youth or am I just too old and educated to qualify now?)

I’m the grandchild of a U.S. citizen and the daughter of legal permanent residents of the United States. The fact that I’m in removal proceedings is incomprehensible as a matter of fact and law…

… I’ll take the Notice to Appear as a compliment. It looks like I’m an important enough threat to be the target of ICE enforcement efforts. I thought DHS Secretary Napolitano was prioritizing removing so-called “criminal aliens” from the country and students like me were not the target of ICE enforcement efforts. I was wrong. Funnily, I’ve never received a speeding ticket or citation, let alone seen the inside of a police station. My only “crime” is that I turned 21 before my mother became a legal permanent resident of the United States. Unfortunately, I can’t stop aging. I’d love to know how to reverse the process. I’m sure everyone would.

But you know what’s a bigger crime? Separating a mother from her child. Separating a child from her mother based on an arbitrary age. I don’t know how my parents are supposed to survive this, considering all their hopes and dreams for the future are pinned on me, considering they came to this country only to give me a better life.

It’s also unfortunate that no court of law would hear my claim of the years of pain, anguish and trauma that I’ve faced by the simple fact that according to immigration law, my only parents are not my immediate relatives.

They are legal permanent residents now. They will be U.S. citizens soon. And they still won’t have the right to keep their youngest daughter in this country.

God Bless America.

If you can help Prerna out by donating some funds to pay for her trips to court, etc, please do so here.

Undocumented Youth in Georgia Arrested for DREAMing

10:12 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|DREAM Act|Education|Georgia|Immigration · 2 Comments

6 Apr 2011

Yesterday, undocumented youth in Georgia amped up the action by committing an act of civil disobedience, risking deportation. The arrests of Georgina Perez, Viridiana Martinez, Jose Rico, Dayanna Rebolledo, Andrea Rosales, David Ramirez and Maria Marroquin near Georgia State University, were preceded by the state’s first “coming out” event, where the young people first publicly declared their undocumented status. The young people also delivered
a letter to the Georgia State University President asking him to not comply with the recent Georgia Board of Regents ban of undocumented youth from the top 5 public universities.

With no DREAM Act currently in play in the U.S. Congress (although that may change soon), DREAMers across the country have been working locally to make sure that all young people have access to education regardless of their immigration status.

CNN has the following video of the protest and arrests.

Read more…

DREAMs Come Out of the Shadows in Chicago

4 Apr 2011

This past, March 10th, young people, many whom would be eligible for the DREAM Act (if politicians would just get it passed already), came out of the shadows and declared their immigration status, without fear and without apologies.

The following is a video from the “Coming Out of the Shadows” rally in Chicago, organized by the Youth Justice League.

The film moved me to tears, and I was really appreciative of how it showed the diversity of the young people involved in the struggle for the DREAM Act.

If you want to support these youth or want to learn how to get involved. Visit the Youth Justice League online or email them at info@iyjl.org.

Obama’s Hopes for Immigration Can’t Hide Ugly Realities

31 Mar 2011

Earlier this week, President Obama appeared on an Univision hosted television forum on Latinos and Education. While education is an important key in the future of the growing Latino population in the US, now estimated at 50 million, immigration is tied into this future as well. During the forum, Obama said that he still had hope for comprehensive immigration reform including the DREAM Act. All the hope in the world however, cannot obscure the ugly reality of current policy and this week has proven chock full of examples of the double speak the administration is engaging in, especially to the Latino community in all it’s intersections.

False Hope for Immigrant LGB Couples

For 24 hours, immigrant gay and lesbian married couples believed that their struggle to have their marriages recognized and having that recognition work in their favor to access the same right to permanent residency green cards as straight married couples was over.
For 24 hours U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services initiated a temporary hold on on green card applications from married same-sex couples based on President Obama’s declaration that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. This meant a hold on deportations of foreign nationals in legally recognized same-sex marriages. Quickly though, USCIS declared it’s intention to return to business as usual as per Obama’s deportation first immigration policy.

Christopher Bentley, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, confirmed on Wednesday that the temporary hold on green card applications from married same-sex couples has been lifted after the agency received the anticipated legal instructions on issues that emerged after President Obama declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

“USCIS has not implemented any change in policy and intends to follow the president’s directive to continue enforcing the law,” Bentley said.

Steve Ralls, spokesperson for Immigration Equality, expressed disappointment that the Obama administration resumed its authority to deport foreign nationals in legally recognized same-sex marriages.

“Our government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart,” Ralls said. “The Department of Justice has said it believes DOMA is unconstitutional. Immigration Equality agrees, and we believe it is inappropriate to use that unconstitutional law to separate American citizens from their loved ones.”

US citizenship does not equal safety from being separated from your loved ones, even if you are a U.S. citizen child. Just ask four year old Emily Ruiz.
Read more…

March 10th, 2011 : Coming out of the Shadows Day for Undocumented Youth

10:41 am By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Education|Immigration|youth · Comments Off

7 Mar 2011

Te default is to think that invisibility, hiding will offer protection and safety, but experience has taught me, that when it comes to issues of justicia, the safety comes from the extended reach of community and by claiming presence, saying Presente!. And say this with a certain amount of privilege. My claiming multiple identities publicly doesn’t put me at risk for being deported, and yet on March 10th, many DREAMers will take that risk and as community, regardless of where we stand in terms of the details of the DREAM Act, it is our responsibility to extend our reach to them and support.

So Now the Senate Wants to Get Real About Immigration Reform?

7:27 am By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Immigration · 8 Comments

8 Feb 2011

So the political rumor mill has it that my own Senator, Biometric Chuck Schumer, and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham are teaming up to work on some sort of immigration reform deal.

Why does it feel like we’ve heard this before? Oh yeah because we have. Since 2009, immigrant communities have been hearing that Senator Schumer was going to be the “champion” of immigration reform. And remember how far that got us? His “blueprint” which was far from an actual plan included :

a requirement that all U.S. workers verify their identity through fingerprints or an eye scan and he rejected the euphemism “undocumented workers,” he said: “Illegal immigration is wrong — plain and simple.”

Doesn’t sound like my champion. Then Schumer delayed, delayed again (this time with Graham). And then all talk of CIR essentially disappeared from Schumer’s mouth, even with young DREAMers on hunger strike outside his Midtown Manhattan office.

Oh and then the state whose interest Schumer is supposed to represent, NY, adopts Secure Communities.

Pardon me if I’m not engraving a trophy for Schumer.

The VivirLatino Response to the SOTU

1:37 pm By Maegan La Mala · DREAM Act|Education|Immigration|Obama|Politics · 6 Comments

26 Jan 2011

Despite not having any special beverages to get me through last night’s live-tweet of the State of the Union address, it was fun engaging with some of our followers, friends and fans. But now that morning after feeling sets in and we look back at what was really said and if it really matters in terms of policy.

What many in the Latino blogosphere were interested in was if President Obama would address issues like immigration and link that to the bigger issues of jobs and the economy, because yes, they do go together. To the surprise of many, Obama did mention immigration, specifically referring to the DREAM Act and then reverting to the usual enforcement first language we have come to expect from the right and we have seen in practice from the current administration. Overall, the SOTU though was an “America is Number 1″ pep rally and in the worse, most predictable, contradictory way.
Read more…

Update on Arizona Young Man Facing Deportation

2:51 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|DREAM Act|Immigration · 1 Comment

18 Jan 2011

Two days ago I wrote about Pedro, the 22 year old living in Arizona who was brought here as a young child from Mexico and was facing deportation today.

Today there is a little bit of good news. Pedro was granted a 30 day window by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ‘s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency office in Phoenix, AZ to remain in the country while his case is being further reviewed.

“I now realize that the only way for me to be able to stay in Arizona, my home, is for President Obama to allow for me to stay. It is his choice whether I am deported to a country I do not know or if I am allowed to stay in Arizona and give back to my community. I ask President Obama to please let me serve this nation,” says Pedro.

In the absence of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed Pedro an opportunity to stay in the U.S., Pedro’s attorney is seeking for Pedro to be allowed to stay in the U.S. via deferred action based on the fact that he wants to enlist in the U.S. Marines.

Young Arizona Man Faces Deportation

10:05 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|DREAM Act|Immigration · 3 Comments

16 Jan 2011

22 year old Pedro was brought to the United States from Mexico when he was 7 years old by his grandmother, who raised him. The young man, who lives in Arizona and has no living relatives on either side of the border, has been told that he has until Tuesday to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who could deport him.

You can send an electronic fax to DHS/ICE

You can add your name to the petition and make calls.

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