It's an interesting time to be an undocumented immigrant in the state of Florida.
The Sunshine state is currently battling against the construction of one of the nation's largest immigration detention facilities, one that ironically has the support from two federal DREAM Act supporters, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL).
We have Representative David Rivera (R-FL), a man who saw an opportunity to introduce the current Republican Party into the immigration reform battlefield by introducing the STARS and ARMS Acts. Rivera's attempts at promoting both pieces of legislation have received generally bad reviews, however one should always look at both sides of the coin before drawing any conclusions.
Now we have Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a man who is not only rumored to be a potential Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, but who is also crafting the Republican counterpart of the popular DREAM Act.
In a recent interview with Fox News Latino, Senator Rubio stated that while he literally supports the "concept" that the DREAM Act represents, he himself opposes such a measure and instead is putting forth his own version of the bill. Similarly, Republicans Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX).
What is interesting here is the fact that Republicans are willing to mobilize on an election year in order to prop up "solutions" to the broken immigration system; and particularly, solutions that cater to the undocumented youth segment of the immigrant community that currently exists within this country.
Why is this happening all out of the sudden? Well, this could be a political ploy in order to court the growing Latino voting block across our nation, or perhaps is a way for (as Senator Rubio would hope) for the Republican Party to ease itself into being the party of pro-legal immigration.
Whatever the case may be, both parties are failing at recognizing the key issues at hand, and it has nothing to do with the broken immigration system, but rather it has to do with people's lives.
Florida is a clear example of that.
How is the Democratic Party supposed to advocate for the DREAM Act, when two of its leading members are allowing, and practically advocating, for a corporation with a questionable track record to build another detention facility in our state.
Better yet, can and should the immigrant community take any immigration proposal coming from the Republican Party seriously. After all, the Republican Party has been infamous in the last couple of years for opposing any common sense reform to the immigration system.
This political pandering is not helpful, and I can clearly say that the Latino and immigrant communities are quite sick of partisan games. We are not game pieces, and we are certainly not blind sheep who can be bought with fictional promises of legislation that has yet to pass. We are human beings and we live our lives day by day, along with our families, waiting for a solution that can resolve our troubled circumstances.
Democrats like Senator Nelson and Representative Wasserman Schultz need to stand up for the immigrant community of Florida. They are not doing us any favors by supporting a prison that their constituents, and a lot of other people across the state, clearly do not want.
On the flip side, Republicans like Senator Rubio and Representative Rivera are also failing us. While it is great to see some headway from the Republican Party on this sensitive issue, they are only splitting hairs and pointing fingers rather than collaborating with their counterparts.
I think Senator Olympia Snowe best illustrated the partisan issue in her retirement announcement:
"For change to occur, our leaders must understand that there is not only strength in compromise, courage in conciliation and honor in consensus-building -- but also a political reward for following these tenets. "
While Senator Snowe voted against the DREAM Act the last time around, she is somebody whose opinions I can respect. She gets it, there must be a compromise struck between all parties involved within the immigration issue: Democrats, Republicans, and immigrant advocates.
Our lives, my life, cannot continue to be put on hold, and our communities cannot continue to be criminalized by mere fractures within our political system. Notice that I say our, because despite the fact that I am undocumented, I still consider this my country.
Democrats and Republicans from this state need to stop treating the immigration issue as a political game for the sake of furthering their political ambitions; instead, they should invoke a concept that has been attached to the DREAM Act since its inception, but has vanished in recent years: bi-partisanship.
Follow Juan Escalante on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@JuanSaaa
Just who in the Sunshine State is battling it, those who might end up spending some time there before getting their plane ticket home?
However, while at home, you can work for social and political changes in YOUR country and you might even want to stay there after that. That is after all, your true right.
This is NOT your country, and as such, the so-called fractures in the political systems fall to the legal citizens of this country to correct and mend. So please continue to hold until the next available ICE officer is available to deport you to whence you came. We did not fail you, your parents did by bringing you here illegally, so please enjoy the inside of that new detention facility.
It doesn't seem to be broken for the million immigrants we let in every year. Instead of whining about supposed injustices, maybe you should follow in the steps of those who follow the rules.
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. Has no one 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 Ace 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 makes the Simpson-Mazzoli loopholes look modest by comparison? Rubio’s bill will reveal the truth.
If you can't help your constituents on issue X and screw them at the same time on issue Y you can't call yourself a real politician in the U.S. Detention centers will usually receive bi partisan support because they represent jobs (or more accurately, the illusion of jobs) for the local community. The prison industry throws around millions in lobbying and their successful efforts don't usually register with the public because few realize how much money is involved and it's not the sexiest issue out there.
Read more on Newsmax.com: The DREAM Act Scam
http://www.newsmax.com/JamesWalsh/DREAM-Act-Scam-amnesty/2012/02/28/id/430879
The severely flawed DREAM Act of 2011 [S. 952] is given a rating of just a, "9% chance of enactment".
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s952
Better chance for the illegal DREAMers of obtaining a college degree in the country of their citizenship ~ than, waiting on The DREAM Act to become law in the USA.
When your parents bring you over the border when you're three years old and you've spent the next 15 years going to local schools, being a part of the community, and you speak with an American accent - what more do you want? Imagine your reaction if your parents revealed to you that were illegal when you turned 21...
On that note, cue the nativist and xenoph0bic remarks in...3....2....1...