Originally published on Youthradio.org, the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe.
By: Robyn Gee
President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that low-priority immigration offenders would not be a focus for deportation, according to the Los Angeles Times. This applies to DREAM Act-eligible students and people who have family ties in the country.
The statement comes at a critical moment for President Obama, as Republican candidates begin competing with him for the Latino vote in November. When President Obama spoke at the National Council de la Raza last month, he was criticized for his administration's slow progress on immigration reform.
He also supported the recent Secure Communities legislation, which has been seen with skepticism by pro-immigrant advocates. The law allows local and state police to hand over fingerprints and citizenship information for people they arrest to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The law has been criticized for scaling up the deportations of people who committed minor offenses. States are also unclear about whether turning over fingerprints is voluntary or mandatory. The Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law are currently involved in a lawsuit against this legislation.
President Obama's recent announcement means that many cases up for deportation will be examined in a new light -- to decide whether they are "low-priority." If the person is granted low-priority status, they might even be eligible for work permits, the LA Times reports.
Assemblyman Gil Cedillo of California, who worked to push through the California DREAM Act legislation AB 130, said that he hopes the President will do more. "We appreciate it -- that he's not going to target young men and women who have become part of the best and brightest of CA -- we’re pleased he’s not going to target them. We would obviously like him to enhance that commitment," he said.
Cedillo said it's typical to see families broken apart by deportation. "A brother and sister came into my office. The freshman brother was born here, a citizen, but his sister couldn't get a scholarship. Why would you want to separate this family?"
In terms of next steps, Cedillo thinks this statement might help Obama win the Latino vote, but the question remains whether it will be executed. "What can we do now? Through the execution of policy we can protect the DREAM students, stop dividing families, and we can protect American families. ... To the extent that the new statement moves us in that direction, it is welcomed," he said.
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We kept you from the factories, fields and sex trade, educated you regardless of your status, gave you Saturday School, Beyond The Bell, free lunch, free snack, discount bus and uniform coupons. We formed you into responsible, independent adults. I would rather hear, "Thank you, I know I've been taking a space that wasn't mine and will think outside the box" than "This is my country and I deserve to go to college"
Signed, Former Teacher
Children in the 3rd World are used in the sex trade, the drug trade, field work, factory work. They don't have educational opportunity very often and rarely is it free. Education is one key component in healthy relationships, avoidance of the criminal justice system, mental health, overall happiness. That's why we do it. That's why in America there are child labor laws.
Here in America, we believe children should have a childhood focused fully on mental development: finding what they are good at, helping them excel, setting and achieving goals, making a life for themselves that is gratifying, responsible and independent.
To demand further protection offends me. College for illegal immigrants who were brought here as children can be obtained by military service or returning to their home country and applying for a visa. Use that US high school diploma and apply to college in a Spanish speaking country.
The education they got is sought after by millions of parents who come here for a better life for their children. Use it to think of a solution other than "you owe me".
For reference: I live in a third world country (means we still might or might not have certain diseases that are extinct in developed nations like the US), I have no ties in the US (I know sibling based immigration takes more than 10 years), I have 10 children, age 1-10.
I want to come to US illegally and I want to come illegally without inspection, I refuse inspection in both criminal background and infectious diseases, oh let me re-phase myself, "I want to come to US the same exact way that these illegals did, the exact way that Jose Antonio Vargas did" and I will do exactly what he said he did "in order to survive". And I promise to raise all 10 of my children modeled after Vargas so all will be Pulitzer Prize Winners (so we avoid deportation), and just in case that all 10 of my children are not smart enough to go to community colleges, I will have them recite "we will join the military", oh couple of more things to recite: "We have an American Dream, we will do jobs Americans won't do, we will pay taxes, we will help the economy, Don't break up families, We are human" (feel free to add in more excuses if you know any), there, now the question:
Is it ok for me and my children to come to this country illegally?