The federal DREAM Act. Illegal Immigration. Undocumented Immigrants.
These topics inspire passionate debate. One must only look at recent GOP debates or the comments section of a related news article to see just how intense the rhetoric can get.
According to a recent Fox News Latino poll, an estimated 90 percent of U.S. Latinos support the federal DREAM Act, a bill that would create a pathway towards conditional permanent residency for an estimated 2.1 million undocumented youth in the U.S.; given a certain set of criteria. Beneficiaries must have arrived as children, graduated from high school and show good moral character to petition. In addition, 85.9 percent of Latinos support a legal pathway towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
But what about the people who find themselves in the middle of the debate?
The growing presence of DREAMers on websites like Define American, DreamActivist.org, DreamersAdrift, and UnitedWeDream, just to name a few, is making it increasingly difficult to ignore this community. DREAMers have created their own venues, even breaking into mainstream media by sharing their own "coming out" stories, like that of individuals like Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas.
Here at HuffPost LatinoVoices, we strive to engage an emerging bicultural Latino population and shed light on stories from our community that are often overlooked by traditional media.
In this vein, we seek to bring a broader discussion relating to issues of the DREAM Act to The Huffington Post community. We are inviting DREAM Act-eligible youth, leaders, and allies as well as opponents of the bill, to contribute as bloggers so that we may better understand the scope of this contentious social issue from the persons who are affected most by our country's immigration policies.
Here are some of them:
Wil' Prada immigrated with his family to the United States when he was 7-years-old to flee the social and economic instability of his native Peru. He now holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and runs a small landscaping business when not organizing for the DREAM Act. You can read his posts here.
Juan Escalante, an undocumented Florida State University political science and international affairs graduate immigrated with his family from Caracas, Venezuela following the political turmoil of Hugo Chavez's election. After settling in Miami, Florida, an attorney botched his family's adjustment of status application and their case was administratively closed. Escalante and his family wait for immigration reform or the DREAM Act to provide a legal means to adjust. He is a core-member of DreamActivist.org and a founder of DreamActivistFL.org.
If you are interested in adding your voice to the conversation, please email me at Andrea.Long-Chavez@huffingtonpost.com.
MEET A FEW OF THE CONTRIBUTORS OF THE 'DREAMERS BLOG SERIES' BELOW:
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Fermin Vasquez
Fermin Vasquez serves as the statewide Communications Coordinator for Californians for Justice. One of Los Angeles' youngest emerging Latino leaders, Fermin was a Front Line Leaders Academy Fellow with the People for the American Way Foundation, based in Washington D.C. In 2010, Fermin became the first one in his family to graduate from college, and received his degree in Political Science from California State University, Los Angeles. He was also a founding member and President of Students United to Reach Goals in Education (S.U.R.G.E.), a support and advocacy organization for those that may not have come here with the right papers, but have been raised with the right values.
He is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and his posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fermin-vasquez" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Laura E. Enriquez
Laura E. Enriquez is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles where she does research on the experiences of undocumented young adults. She is a dedicated scholar-activist and specializes in immigration, race/ethnicity, and gender. She has been mentoring, teaching, and organizing with undocumented young adults for the past five years.
She is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and her posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-e-enriquez" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Fernando Romero
Fernando Romero is the Coordinator for the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California; he is also a co-founding member of <a href="http://dreamersadrift.com/" target="_hplink">Dreamers Adrift</a>, a new media project for undocumented students, by undocumented students.
He is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and his posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fernando-romero" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Alma Castrejon
Alma Castrejon was born in Mexico City and came to the United States at the age of seven. In 2008, she graduated from UC Riverside with B.A. degrees in Political Science - International Relations and Chicano Studies. While at UCR she founded Providing Opportunities, Dreams and Education in Riverside (PODER), a support group for undocumented students on campus. In 2011, Alma received her Master of Arts degree in Education at CSU Long Beach. She has been a member of Dream Team Los Angeles (DTLA), a community and student group that advocates for undocumented student rights and immigrant rights, since 2009; she is also an active member of Graduates Reaching a Dream Deferred (GRADD), a group of undocumented graduate students that addresses the needs of immigrant students interested in pursuing graduate education. Alma will be applying to law school in the fall of 2012.
She is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and her posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alma-castrejon" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Juan Escalante
Juan Escalante is an undocumented student and recent graduate from Florida State University. He is a core-member of <a href="http://www.dreamactivist.org/" target="_hplink">DreamActivist.org</a> and the founder of <a href="http://dreamactivistfl.org/" target="_hplink">DreamActivistFL.org</a>; both are online organizations that provide resources for undocumented students across the country.
He is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and his posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/juan-escalante" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Nancy Meza
Nancy Meza is a human being from Jalisco, Mexico. She was brought to the U.S. by her responsible and courageous mother at the age of two and proudly grew up in East Los Angeles California. She is a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. After High School she attended East Los Angeles Community College and transferred to UCLA where she became actively involved in organizing around undocumented and immigrant rights issues with IDEAS at UCLA and Dream Team Los Angeles. She graduated with a degree in Chicana/o Studies and a Labor and Work Place Studies minor in 2010. She is currently an intern at the Dream Resource Center; a project out of the UCLA Labor Center and continues to organize with Dream Team Los Angeles where she is a member of the media and communications team.
She is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and her posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-meza" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Erick Huerta
Erick Huerta is majoring in journalism at East Los Angeles College. As a member of Dream Team Los Angeles, he is one of the coordinators handling the group's communications and social media endeavors. He has lived in the U.S. for the past 20 years and has been chronicling his personal experiences as an undocumented resident for the last eight years on his personal <a href="www.justarandomhero.blogspot.com" target="_hplink">blog</a>. He's also a community reporter for the community of Boyle Heights and an avid cyclist. He can be recognized by his trademark bigotes.
He is a contributor to the HuffPost LatinoVoices <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and his posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erick-huerta" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Jonathan Perez
Jonathan Perez is a queer undocumented political exile from Colombia, and a Co-Founder of the Immigrant Youth Coalition in Southern California. On why he contributes to the series, he writes, "It is shocking to most, but I don't actually advocate for the DREAM Act. I organize for the rights of undocumented immigrants. I believe that in order to have meaningful changes we must first address the root causes. In order to change our realities we have to build a global movement and a global revolution. I write for the Huffington Post <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em> because it gives me the opportunity to give a different perspective to what the issues of undocumented people are."
You can read his posts <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-perez" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Mayra Hidalgo Salazar
Originally from Naranjo, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Mayra immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 6-months-old. She is undocumented and has dedicated her life to the immigrant movement in Florida. She lives in Lakeland, Florida where she is an organizer for Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER), a grassroots organization founded by undocumented immigrant youth in Florida. She also serves on the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) and United We DREAM (UWD) Board of Directors. She helped start an immigration legal clinic that offers free legal immigration consultation to low-income immigrants in her community and serves as the Clinic Coordinator.
She also serves as the Migrant Scholar Advocate for Scaffold the Scholar, a professional development initiative for former farm-worker women working in early childhood education and is a member of the Polk County School Board Diversity Council. She was a project manager for the Trail of Dreams campaign in 2010, a 1,500 walk from Miami, FL to Washington, D.C., demanding that President Obama stop the deportation of undocumented students.
Currently a undergraduate college student, she aspires to eventually earn a law degree specializing in immigration law so she can continue to serve the community that taught her to persevere against all odds.
Jesus Cortez
Jesus Cortez is an undocumented graduate student at the California State University, Long Beach College of Education. He grew up in Anaheim, California and is a member of the Orange County Dream Team.
He is a contributor to the <em>DREAMers Blog Series</em>, and his posts can be read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesus-cortez" target="_hplink">here</a>.
Angy Rivera
Angy Rivera is a Colombian-born, New York-raised undocumented immigrant who started the first undocumented youth advice column, Ask Angy, while a core member at the New York State Youth Leadership Council. She also blogs for DreamActivist.org.
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Why add another 2.1 million of illegals, when the U.S. Economy can not sustain the existing U.S. Workforce ~ evidenced, by 13 million U.S. Citizens out of work for the past consecutive months.
No one is special, wait in line LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Having Brown skin does not mean you get to cut in line, and it REALLY means you don't get to demand anything when you are here illegally !
After all we have already given them 7 amnesties and they are yelling louder then ever before. But that is what amnesty gets you - more of that behavior.
to immigrate to the US.
You're probably going to enjoy this blog series as you will hopefully learn more about immigration issues.
Continue to use the DREAM ACT as a "Christmas Tree" laden with all kinds of special exceptions and by including children who clearly do remember their home countries and came as older children at the behest of their parents and the DREAM will remain just that - only a dream. Just because an individual is under 18 does not automatically mean that the individual is a poor innocent completely devoid of subterfuge. Have DREAM supporters not noticed a gang problem in the USA? The number of individuals who actually fit the description of "young people who no longer remember their homeland" is TINY whereas current drafts of the DREAM Act would benefit millions.
Maybe it is time to examine the motives of those who push the current versions of the DREAM Act. Are they really interested in helping poor students whose home countries are places they hardly remember? Or are those students being used as human shields to create a monstrosity of a bill that will makes the Simpson-Mazzoli loopholes look modest by comparison?
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Romanticizing economic migration is not going to give you payback. People will read that and wince.
This "dreamer" fantasy is rapidly shrinking at the deportation checkpoints, where they will get a REAL perspective of how their "loving" parents put them in harm's way and then taught them that laws are irrelevant if you don't like them.
Nice start to anarchy and destructive political chaos, where NOBODY wins.
and the HP wonders about irrelevance?
please stop!