05/20/11 We dedicate this post to the many DREAMers who are graduating from high school and college this spring. To those students: keep hope alive, and continue to inspire us all with your hard work and dedication to your dreams.
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05/19/11 "Officially a Doctor of Law! This J.D. degree is for the DREAM movement. Victory will be ours!" César Vargas wrote on his Facebook wall this past weekend after receiving his law degree. Graduation ceremonies are held all throughout the country and among these students, who through immense effort are graduating from college, are hundreds of thousands like César, undocumented students with enormous potential to offer to this country.
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05/18/11 Last week, DREAMers and members of Florida's interfaith community came together to thank Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) for sponsoring the reintroduction of the DREAM Act.
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05/17/11 Approximately 38,000 Americans in uniform are not American citizens—and at least ten soldiers who have died in Iraq did not have U.S. papers. A new MSNBC "Lean Forward" ad invokes Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez's story, and mentions that Gutierrez was granted American citizenship posthumously, which "was too late."
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05/16/11 Criticism has arisen from DREAM activists and progressive bloggers over the politicization of the DREAM Act by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
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05/13/11 News of President Obama's recent push for immigration reform has hijacked the news this week, and media personalities have been all too vocal about what they think are Obama's real intentions for immigration reform. Some have called his efforts "insincere" while others have praised him for finally playing to his base; this is entirely politics, some argue, while others say that yes, it might be, but it's also good policy
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05/13/11 Today, the Washington Post's editorial board slammed an effort to block the DREAM Act through the referendum process -- and mocked Delegate Pat McDonough for leading the effort.
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05/13/11 So this is awkward. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign was caught fundrasing off of the DREAM Act.
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05/12/11 Last week, Florida's business, faith and Hispanic communities came together to celebrate the defeat of Arizona-like immigration bills in the Florida legislature. They made it very clear -- they are done giving out free passes to Hispanic legislators that favor anti-immigrant bills. Yet, just a week after this defeat, Rubio decided to blatantly ignore the message from Florida's Hispanic community and favor the bigger national GOP anti-immigrant platform
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05/12/11 Yesterday's reintroduction of the DREAM Act—sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and many others—elicited a wide range of responses, from elation that the bill is back in consideration to hopefulness about continued progress to skepticism that it is anything more than a political vehicle.
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05/12/11 Earlier this month, a prominent group of immigration attorneys wrote a memo detailing the President's executive authority on immigration related matters. To be blunt, the President's hands aren't tied. In the wake of the President's speech on immigration, editorial boards at major newspapers are calling on the President to use that executive authority. We agree.
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05/12/11 Last Friday, May 6th, the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice sent school regions nationwide a letter of rebuke on the fact that a number of public schools have been asking undocumented immigrants for papers. The letter is, in part, a response to recent reports and complaints of misbehavior on the part of educative administrators, but it also serves as a reminder to schools as they prepare for the intake of new students in the coming year.
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05/11/11 We want actions, not words. For nearly two decades I've called the United States of America my home. I emigrated from Ecuador with my family, grew up in Miami and attended public schools, where I was a high-achieving student who eventually made it to college. I am also an undocumented immigrant.
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05/11/11 Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Majority Leader Harry Reid and 31 of their Senate colleagues, in addition to Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced the DREAM Act in the U.S. Congress. For the 11th year, this bipartisan legislation offers talented young people -- who are Americans in all but paperwork -- an opportunity to fully contribute to the country they call home.
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05/11/11 Senate Democrats held a press conference this morning (re)introducing the U.S. DREAM Act, a day after President Obama gave a speech on border enforcement and immigration reform in El Paso, Texas. (We live-tweeted the press conference here.)
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05/11/11 Today, DREAMer Tolu Olubunmi, would-be chemical engineer (if only she was allowed to practice her profession), spoke at a press conference reintroducing the DREAM Act with Senators Durbin (D-IL), Reid (D-NV) and Menendez (D-NJ), and was introduced by Durbin as someone whose "misfortune has been our good fortune" as someone, despite her undocumented status, often volunteers full-time to better the lives of thousands of others.
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05/11/11 This is shaping up to be a big week. Yesterday, the President traveled to El Paso to reaffirm his commitment to immigration reform, after weeks of meetings with people on the issue. He also reasserted his support for the DREAM Act.
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05/06/11 Huge news this week on the DREAM Act front: both Illinois and California in the last few days have taken the lead among states—and the federal government—in advancing common-sense positions on immigration reform.
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05/05/11 The President has been meeting with people pretty regularly about immigration reform this month. The Daily Guidance informed us that the President would be meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) "on the importance of fixing our nation's broken immigration system to meet our 21st century economic and national security needs to that America can win the future."
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05/04/11 It's a busy day for immigrant rights advocates and DREAMers in Illinois. Today, hundreds of pro-immigrant advocates from across the state have made the trip to Springfield, the state capital, urging state lawmakers to vote "yes" on two important pro-migrant pieces of legislation.
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05/02/11 There's been growing pressure on President Obama to use his executive powers to provide relief to undocumented immigrants, particularly DREAM students. The White House maintains that the President does not have the power to take those actions, but he really does. On Friday, several top lawyers in the immigration advocacy movement provided the legal framework through which the President could protect DREAMers and others.
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05/02/11 It's official—the thousands of faxes we all sent to ICE will allow Manolo and his family to stay in the country for another year! Just over a month ago, we told you about Manolo, a young Chinese-American who would qualify for the DREAM Act.
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04/29/11 Yesterday, the President met with Latino celebrities and news personalities to talk about his push for comprehensive immigration reform. This followed a similar meeting with other leaders last week, a meeting which I attended. As many have pointed out, these aren't the first meetings the White House has held on immigration, and they certainly won't be the last.
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04/28/11 As we wrote last month, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been grilling Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about her Department's deportation practices. Grassley seems particularly agitated about the "threat" of Napolitano using prosecutorial discretion and allowing some individuals with compelling cases to delay their deportations through "deferred action."
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04/28/11 One of the most offensive post-9/11 anti-immigrant policies dreamed up by our federal government is finally gone. Yesterday, DHS announced the end of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a state-sanctioned racial profiling program that wasted serious amounts of government resources while damaging our country's reputation, and treating whole groups of people as "other" because of where they came from, not what they did.
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04/27/11 After six hours of testimony, Republicans in the Colorado House Education Committee voted down the Colorado ASSET bill on Monday. If passed, the legislation would have granted unsubsidized in-state tuition to undocumented youth. While the vote results weren't surprising, the biggest disappointment came from Colorado's lone Republican Robert Ramirez.
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04/25/11 On April 21st, the editorial page of La Opinión offered its take on President Obama's latest meeting on immigration reform. Like many of us, the editorial notes that they, and the Latino community in particular, want "more than just meetings."
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