This bothers me more than the daily hatred spewed by talk show hosts like Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck. Why? Because most people already know what to expect from those haters. But when the broad mainstream media from the Associated Press to CNN to MSNBC wastes no time making a heterogenous religious and racial interpellation of Islam as ‘extremist and violent,’ it is a huge problem.

Don’t disparage and discriminate. Stay safe.

Video Credit: Al Jazeera (English)

Dreamers in Wisconsin with a clear message for Obama

In Rhode Island, the three candidates for District 10 all agree: Rhode Island must support in-state tuition for undocumented students. Good to see that the local Democratic, Independent, and Republican candidates all support access to higher education for all.

In San Francisco, a legislative battle continues among Democrats over specifics in the city’s sanctuary policy. Supervisor David Campos, an honorary dreamer himself, is calling out Mayor Gavin Newsom for allowing undocumented students to be deported if they are charged with a felony, regardless of whether they are convicted or not. The Board of Supervisors is likely to overturn Newsom’s veto.

Campos disagrees with Newsom’s stance on the issue.

“There is a public safety need to report people who engage in criminal conduct,” said Campos, “but at the same time recognize that there is the very basic principle that in this country you are innocent until proven guilty.”

Our very own Jose Luis Marantes, board member of United We Dream, debated Ira Mehlman from FAIR (who once talked about my momma) at the University of Florida Law School campus. Read about it from the Gainesville Sun.

The courageous kids from Wisconsin’s Voces de la Frontera made themselves noticed at the Obama rally in Madison this week. A reporter’s personal story highlighted them:

A large group of students were gathered on one corner behind a banner that said, “Support the Dream Act.” Another sign from this group proclaimed, “We Want to Go to College, Too.” I asked one of the young people about the Dream Act. She rose to the challenge admirably, explaining that it was a proposed law to give residency to undocumented students who came to the U.S. before they were 16 and have been here at least five years.

And since we are in Wisconsin, congratulations to everyone in the Badger State for getting Senator Herb Kohl to sign-on as a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act. This puts us at 32 members of the Senate supporting the Act. Also, we have three new co-sponsors in the House: Joe Sestak (PA-7), Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13), and Steve Cohen (TN-9). Good work Dreamers!

I’m telling you here and now that undocumented youth can indeed go to college. So, if you decided to go on a self-destructive rampage despite my previous post, stop immediately because as it turns out, you could very well have a future after high school.

On your college application, don’t write that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Never state that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident on any form of paperwork whatsoever. Check the boxes that correctly correlates to your immigration status, which will most likely make the admissions staff assume that you’re an international student. Therefore, you have to let them know, in one way or another, that you’re undocumented, so that you’re not forced to submit bank statements, a TOEFL test score, and so on. Do anything from writing, “I’m undocumented” on your application to telling an admissions staff member face-to-face that you’re undocumented. If admitted, you’ll most likely still be classified as an international student, get your school email address’ inbox cluttered with mass emails pertaining to international students, and have to keep reminding various administrative staff that you’re undocumented. Opening up to people about your immigration status might currently be difficult for you emotionally, but it gets easier with time. More opportunities could be made available to you if select people know of the circumstances you’re in.

Most of you will have to pay out-of-state tuition for public colleges and universities unless you live in California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Nebraska, Minnesota, Texas, Utah, or Washington. The aforementioned states allow undocumented students who have lived in their respective states for at least three years prior to their high school graduation to pay in-state tuition. There are other requirements, and most likely, requirements specific to each state, which Dreamactivist.org has some links and details about in its FAQ section that I didn’t know existed until roughly a week ago. If you don’t live in one of these states, try to immediately move to one of them if you’re a freshmen in high school or younger (I’m half-kidding and half-completely serious about this suggestion). Doing so could save you a lot of financial heartache when it comes to college tuition. If moving isn’t a possibility for you, a private university could potentially be a better place to attend. Their tuition is more expensive. However, they tend to be more free and willing to give private financial aid to their undocumented students. Either way, try to do your best in high school because being a 4.25 GPA-ed high school student with an excessive amount of extra-curricular activities makes you pretty susceptible to being rewarded with generous private scholarships.

You are only eligible for private scholarships, which means no workstudy, grants, public scholarships, or federally-subsidized student loans. There are loans from numerous financial institutions that you could apply for, but only if you have a co-signer who is a U.S. Citizen. If your college requires you to file a FAFSA, you can do so by filling it out in paper form and giving it to your college’s financial aid department. Do not lie on your form. Check the appropriate boxes that state that you are not interested in being considered for federal financial aid. Leave the Social Security Number section blank if you don’t have one. You need a valid Social Security Number in order to submit a FAFSA online, so your only option is the paper FAFSA. You won’t receive any form of federal financial aid by filing a FAFSA, but colleges use FAFSA to determine your financial need, how much financial aid you’re eligible for. “You should complete and submit your FAFSA even if you are not eligible for federal student aid. You may be eligible for financial aid from other sources” (FAFSA).

If a four-year university is too expensive for you, community college is a great alternative. Community college isn’t just for “losers”. It also isn’t just for geriatrics, stay-at-home parents, people who did horribly in high school, and total flakes who have never completed anything in their lives. Community college is, in addition to all of the above, for pragmatic students who have financial difficulties, undocumented or not. My high school counselors vehemently supported that students go to community college first and transfer to a four-year university as a junior. Community college is relatively inexpensive and the transfer rate to a four-year university is high. Half of my graduating class decided to go to a community college, and they weren’t ashamed of it because there is nothing to be ashamed of. Going to community college isn’t going to diminish you or your potential for excellence.

Make sure to look over the transfer requirements to the four-year universities you’re thinking about eventually attending. Some schools, such as Harvard, don’t accept transfer students. However, if your marks are good enough for acceptance into a school like Harvard straight after high school, it might be better to forgo community college, and attend said school as a freshman. Prestigious private universities, such as the Ivy Leagues, tend to be very financially supportive of their students; they have the financial capabilities and hold an open-minded philosophy about education. I might be sounding too optimistic with that last sentence, but who knows? I certainly don’t go to an Ivy League.

Oh, and did you know? No matter which school you attend, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be the only undocumented student there. Undocumented youth are kind of like a Waldo you can never find; you know they’re there, but you just don’t know where.

- Ille the gal

————

Well, that was a rather dry post loaded with information. Please don’t rely on the information I’ve written in this post alone (Question “authority”!) and do research on your own in case I’m wrong (…though, I doubt it. Haha!). Feel free to email me comments, questions, and suggestions.

Harvard Dreamer (Photo by Daily Breeze)

• At Rutgers University, a student dreams of having access to in-state tuition for New Jersey students. Last night’s victory by Chris Christie in the gubernatorial election creates a difficult scenario for such bill to move through, but the hope will remain at the federal level. The article is from the Daily Targum (Rutgers University)
  

  During a typical week, Douglass College senior Marisol Conde-Hernandez balances 50-60 hours working as a waitress with six credits of classes — and the possibility of being deported due to her undocumented immigrant status.
  Conde-Hernandez said she advocates for granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants because she thinks these kinds of students will be able to achieve more when they graduate.
  “Education has been the most important factor in my upbringing and in me being who I am,” said Conde-Hernandez, who has been paying her out-of-state tuition term bills by working. “What’s great about Rutgers is that it’s pretty much all I’ve ever wanted in education. I always knew I wanted to go to college.”

• From the Daily Breeze, an interesting profile of DreamActivist Alan, who graduated from Harvard and is now back in his hometown in the Los Angeles South Bay:
  

  Some students knew he had a different background, but Alan still kept his immigration status largely a secret from peers. He wasn’t embarrassed or afraid, but mostly he didn’t want sympathy, which often seemed patronizing or obligatory.

  The article also shouts out Espiritu de Nuestro Futuro, a group at Cal State Dominguez Hills

• Imagine 2050 reports on the situation faced by North Carolina dreamers and encourages people to sign the DREAM Act petition.
• Sun Devil Dreamers fighting the good fight at Arizona State University (State Press).

As you might have heard, President Obama is coming to Madison today, November 4th. He will be speaking at Wright Middle School about strengthening America’s educational system.

There is a group of students that are planning on rallying outside the middle school in graduation gowns for the DREAM Act.  If you can, please come support these students and the DREAM Act. We are meeting up with the high schoolers at 11:00am on the corner of Wingra and Fish Hatchery (demonstration area). Parking might be tough, the best bet might be the labor temple/post office (south park st. and wingra) parking lot.

Spread the Word!! Dont forget to bring signs, and caps/gowns to show support for the DREAM Act. If you can’t make it today, you can help by calling your representatives and asking them to co-sponsor the DREAM Act.

Call
Representative Paul Ryan Phone: 202-225-3031
Representative Ronald Kind Phone: 202-225-5506
Representative Steve Keagen Phone: 202-225-5665
and Senator Kohl Phone: 202-224-5653

When you call simply say “My name is _____ and I am calling to ask Representative/Senator_______ to support and to co sponsor the DREAM Act.”

I actually devoted time to the Maine Equality Campaign. After my guilty conscience of not helping out in California*, I had to make amends and took on the role of getting volunteers to travel to Maine for change. The project was grueling but fulfilling. I ended up turning down the chance to work in Maine due to a tough situation at home.

But I do know how hard they worked in Maine.  Sure, the No on 1 website could be designed better. Yet, the campaign did a much better job than the California campaign a year ago. In opposition to the National Organization for Marriage, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, and Focus on the Family, the No on 1 raised $4 million in contributions. Given everything, it actually did not hurt when we fell behind, and eventually lost.

Because we know that Prop 8 was a boon to the marriage equality movement. Sometimes one has to lose the battle to win the war. I know that as a result of this temporary setback, more people will get angry, more resources will be devoted to the cause and marriage equality is inevitable. Like some of my queer radical friends, I actually slightly resent the fact that so much money is being spent on preserving such a regressive institution but since I have no claim to the money and no interest in the institution save for one more pathway to legalization, I don’t really complain.

Why should an average non-gay DREAM Act student care about my queer rants? Because like your families, like the Mejia-Perez family, our non-straight families are also scrutinized, separated and pulled apart since the law refuses to recognize them and grant them full and equal rights. Quite like President Obama promised change for your families and has yet to deliver, he is also largely ignoring LGBT families.

When you do eventually gain the right to vote on other types of families at the polls, just remember what your own family, especially those who lived in mixed-status families, have had to endure. After that, question your ‘faith-based leaders.’ Ask them why they exclude same-sex families when they talk about ‘family unity?’ The Catholic Church, on one hand, stands up strong for the rights of undocumented workers. On the same page, it denounces civil rights for gay couples. Ask your pastors and priests, your clergy and pundits whether ‘God’ would deport a gay immigrant over a straight immigrant.  Ask them whether some rights are more important than others. Ask them to support all families.

Marriage equality is a matter of time. The irony here is that like our DREAM-eligible age-outs, everyone ages-out at some point. Maine has the largest median age of any state and the clock is ticking. I won’t lose sleep on it but your grandparents might.

In other election news, domestic partnership seemed to win in Washington and Kalamazoo, Michigan defeated an anti-gay discrimination measure. So that is some consolation for the queer community. Democrats lost the gubernatorial elections in the states of New Jersey and Virginia. But the NY-23 historic Democrat win proved once again that tea-baggers are toxic to conservatism. They should keep at it. John Garamendi (D) won my safely gerrymandered SF Bay Area district ( CA-10) so we have another two votes for the DREAM Act in the House.

Till next Wednesday, Khuda Hafiz.

(* – Later I was told by an inside source that even if I had volunteered my time, they would not find much use for me since Courage Campaign ran a horrible campaign)

New Immigration Reform Policy: Deporting Our US Citizen Children

When we elected Barack Obama as the President of the United States, we thought we were choosing change; we thought we were voting for humane immigration reform; we thought the separation of families would end. Now, less than a year later, we see that we were wrong.

Helen is asleep, dreaming of her lacrosse match the next day, the latest poem she has been working on and her weekend plans with friends from her church group. Suddenly, she is woken up, dragged from her bed at gunpoint and told that none of the things that she has been working toward and dreaming of are possible for her. Helen’s dreams have been interrupted by a living nightmare.

Helen Mejia-Perez was born in 1996 in Novato, California. Her parents had lived in this small Northern California town for five years and saw it as a perfect community in which to raise their small family. As a young child, Helen was full of positive energy and loved to play with her older brother, Gilbert. She and her family enjoyed “spending quality time together, from going to Disneyland to just taking a walk in the park…”

Helen began school at Marin Montessori in 2001. She enjoyed art and was well liked by her teachers and classmates. Helen excelled throughout elementary school and into middle school, flourishing as young poet and exemplary student. One teacher described her as an “outstanding student [who] contributed enormously to her classroom and the whole school… [she] is bright, motivated, independent, and compassionate”. Her friends described her as “a super-fast reader who could read a 500 page book in one day if she wanted to” and smart, but always ready to laugh.

On March 7, 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement woke Helen with guns raised and told her to join her family in the living room. Helen had no idea what was happening. She knew her parents as “very hard working [people] [who] have always supported me with my education… taught us to help our community, help our church, and to try our hardest in school”. As she stood shivering in the living room, surrounded by ICE agents, she could not comprehend what was happening to her family.

Helen’s parents, Salvador and Elida, had come to the United States in 1992 with their infant son, Gilbert. They were fleeing the violence that had ravaged their home country of Guatemala and seeking a better life for their baby. They worked hard, bought their home in Marin County, raised three children, learned English, paid taxes and become invaluable members of their community.

Today, Salvador and Elida wear ankle bracelets to alert ICE if they stray too far from their home. ICE agents visit their house weekly. Helen sees the anguished looks on her parents’ faces and knows that she may be about to lose everything she has ever known. 4 year old Dulce does not know what is about happen to her life, although she too senses fear from her parents.

At 1AM this Thursday, Salvador, Elida, Helen and Dulce will report to ICE for deportation to Guatemala. Helen and Dulce are US Citizens by birth. They are about to be torn from their country and taken to a place they have never seen. Helen’s rigorous education will come to a halt, she will be separated from the friends and community that have shaped her life, her friends will miss her contagious laughter and her entire world will be uprooted – and who could explain to her why?  She wonders why “other US citizens live happy lives, and then there’s me.” And she’s right to wonder: How does this country benefit from an immigration system that rewards Helen’s hard work and good spirits with trauma and devastation?

Senator Feinstein has refused to save the family by introducing a private bill, claiming not to see “exceptional hardship” to the family, should they be deported. We ask her to read Helen’s story and reconsider her position.

And we ask President Obama, is this the immigration reform you promised? Is deporting US Citizen children your solution to our broken immigration system?

ACTIONS:

Call Senator Feinstein:  D.C.: (202) 224-3841  San Francisco: (415) 393-0707  Los Angeles: (310) 914-7300

“I was calling to ask why Senator Feinstein is not stepping in and allowing for United States citizens to be deported!”

Leave a message at each office and then rinse and repeat in a few hours.  We have to make sure Feinstein knows we won’t tolerate this from her.

Sign onto this letter here: http://immigration.change.org/actions/view/feinstein_why_are_you_deporting_us_citizens

If you are an organization please sign onto this letter by sending an email to mo@dreamactivist.org

• IDEAS continues to mobilize the UCLA community, this time targeting congressman Brad Sherman (Daily Bruin):

“We’ve invested in these individuals from kindergarten to 12th grade, and it’s important to keep that investment in our country,” said Allison Clark, a second-year political science student and member of Bruin Lobby Corps.

• The Las Vegas Sun reports the economic recession has forced some U.S. citizens to become day laborers. The result? They like their immigrant counterparts.

“For a long time, people have looked at day laborers and said, ‘The problem is the immigrants.’ Now the economy is changing. Now people may see it’s a problem of the labor market, of the rights of workers,” Bernabe said.

Buchanan, meanwhile, looks forward to a future that includes a steady job and an apartment. “I’m trying to dig my way out of this,” he said. When he does, however, he sees himself as a changed man.

“Before, I was part of the majority. Now I’m part of the minority … I’m not going to forget this. I’m not going to forget any of this.”

• An article by Medill News Service highlights the online media movement of the DREAM Act. Lizbeth from Dream Team LA and yours truly are interviewed. Here is the Imperial Valley Press version.
• The United States Students Association has a new legislative update out, including updates on DREAM Act and the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act.
• North Carolina anti-immigrants continues their twisted campaign against the right to an education. The big deal? 4 out of 17,000 at the local community college are undocumented, and paying out-of -state fees! More here.

This time we get a clip from CNN in which a star student is showcased to prove once again the restated and evident truth, that DREAM Act students are hard workers and dedicated to this country.

Her name is Michelle and she comes to us from The Golden State, California. As reported by CNN she is one of the most outstanding students to graduate form her High School, with a 4.2 GPA, a treasure chest of extra curricular activities and accepted to nine very prestigious universities across the United State.

Unfortunately due to her circumstances she is unable to attend many of these Universities, but she has found some hope. I won’t ruin the video for you all, but I highly encourage you to take a couple of minutes and see what some students are doing for themselves and the DREAM Act.

Oh, and for those who read this yet don’t see the benefit of enacting the DREAM Act, well this is the type of student you will be deporting: bright, successful, full of drive, determined, over all asset to this country. Again, you can always listen to Lupe Moreno, who claim that DREAMies “murder Americans”. Hey, you’re free to decide which side of the story you want to believe.

So for your enjoyment please meet Michelle:

I personally give thanks to CNN for taking the initiative of recognizing and reporting on the issue, after all its students such as Michelle that will benefit from the DREAM Act and make a greater impact in their communities and this nation as a whole. However, behind the huge doors of CNN’s news covering spectacle lies the dirty little secret that continues to pollute the immigrant movement.

Lou Dobbs is recognized for his constant slander against immigrants and Latinos in this country, and while I could totally write a series of posts that highlight some of his most absurd, ridiculed, and fabricated “facts”, I will once again to allow you all to do some research and create your own opinions.

I will, however, share a little bit of my personal opinion that ties up Michelle and Dobbs together. I have been boycotting and encouraging people to abstain from watching Latino in America for some time now, being that CNN still keeps Lou Dobbs in their payroll and refuses to drop him. The reason I report on Michelle’s story is that she is a DREAMie like us, and her story must be heard, yet I can’t bring myself to support a program dedicated to the Latino population when a lie spitting “reporter” continues to twist the facts in order to use Latinos as the scapegoats.

The Basta Dobbs campaign has been successful in bringing attention to the Dobbs is still on CNN issue. Here is a clip featured in their homepage that may shed some light on what I’m rambling about:

And for those who follow the Basta Dobbs campaign (shout out to America’s Voice) here is a little commercial that aired a couple days ago during the Rachel Maddow show. Maybe CNN should take a little look at it.

October 29, 2009, 5:44PM

The Multnomah County commissioners never seem short of resolutions to pass and proclamations to make, but today’s unanimous vote to support the federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was particularly emotional for both the commissioners and the audience who came to support it.

Known as the DREAM ACT, the legislation that would allow children brought into the country illegally to attend and pay in-state tuition at public universities, was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in March. But as it has stalled in the past year, it again has yet to be heard on the floor of either chamber.

“All of us remember a time in our youth when the world was full of promise, when we were still deciding whether to be doctor or astronaut … or for a few strange kids, politicians,” said Commissioner Jeff Cogen. “We raise our children to believe that anything is possible. We tell our children to work hard and all the doors of opportunity will open to you. Now imagine that on your 18th birthday that same country that tells you to believe in the power of dreams says never mind your dreams.”

That, Cogen said, is the situation of thousands of students across the country each year who graduate from high school but then are unable to attend college because they are undocumented. It isn’t fair, he said, nor does it reflect American values.

Several Portland State University and high school students shared their personal stories and the stories of friends and family members with the board. They spoke of hopes dashed and of children who as teenagers learn that the only country they’ve known is not their own.

“I believe everyone should have the right to obtain education after graduating from high school,” said Karla Suarez, a Gresham High School student who became a legal resident her freshman year. “Everyone deserves a chance to pursue their dreams regardless of where they are from or the color of their skin. America has always been a place of immigrants.”

The commissioners said it was important to voice their support for the federal legislation to make a point to Washington, D.C., but also to the community.
“I want to be able to send a message to you all and all of those who couldn’t be here today out of fear that I support you and I value you,” said Commissioner Deborah Kafoury.

Videl Fuentes Ramos, who recently received his visa, thanked the commissioners for supporting the act. He said he was afraid to speak when he testified at a hearing in support of a similar state act that has not passed either, because he was in the country illegally at the time.

“Having legal status makes me feel free,” he said. “I feel this is my home and I belong here because I am one of the people that wants to make a change. There is hope because of leaders like you.”

– Nikole Hannah-Jones

A copy of the resoulition can be cound HERE.