“This is the moment for him to act,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “And if we stumble, if somehow we fail, let’s fail together. Let’s fail fighting!” From the New York Times article, found here.

Are you for real? Let’s fail together? Let’s fail fighting?

Good luck, Representative Gutierrez, but we’re not interested in failing.  Perhaps you have the luxury of speculating as to what happens if nothing changes, but for us, it’s unthinkable.  We don’t have an answer to the question, “What happens if we fail?”  We don’t even ask the question. It’s not a question anymore.

Don’t bother trying to speak for us.

We’re the DREAM campaign- we fight to win.

Senator Graham on immigration reform.

Not that it’s a big deal for her or anything, but Prerna speaks out in The Advocate.

Establishment of Pell Grants in the 70s. Reform for students, by students.

Addiction of the week: six-word-stories.

Reasons to march on March 21st.

Texas senators invite Obama to visit the Mexican border.

Korean-Americans for immigration reform.

Caribbean-Americans for immigration reform.

Irish-Americans for immigration reform.

And study up here; because you want the right cake to celebrate when the DREAM Act passes.

Happy Thursday! The DREAMActivist team will see you in Washington D.C., OUR nation’s capital!

Hello.  Our names are Matias and Facundo.  We are brothers, and we are undocumented.  Today is our older sister’s 26th birthday.  She left the United States three years ago, while we went off to college.

We all grew up in Argentina.  Lived on a quiet street, the type where you could bike around or play soccer without having to worry about cars coming by.  The average speed limit inside the city was probably less than 20 miles an hour.

We all had our friends and cliques, and our parents taught us well.  Look sharp to go to school.  Homework first, playing with friends later.  Be home by a certain time.  Do your chores.  Love God.  Honor your father and your mother.  We honored them, and followed them all the way to Garden Grove, California.  Gisela was 15, I was 13, and Facundo was 10.

We left the country as it was headed for an economic and political crisis in 1999.  Amidst the confusion and uncertainty of whether we would have food on our table for much longer, our parents reached out to a friend of a friend.  Even though it had never occurred to our parents to live here, there was a glimmer of hope in the United States.  Remnants, perhaps, of a time when hope for immigrants was the law of the land, rather than the privileged exception.

On the TV, Bush, McCain, Buchanan, and Al Gore were all talking about immigrants.  Three of them said reform was needed, while Buchanan said to deport them all.  We always had bad news about Bill Clinton in Argentina, and that Bush fellow was the nice son of that other guy.  One of us chose Bush, the other one did not give much of a damn.  Flipping to the Spanish channels, we could see the situation back home getting worse.  Our visas were expiring, our options becoming limited.  We stayed.  Immigration reform was coming. Hopefully.

One huge difference between the undocumented immigrants and their immigrant children is that the former’s hopes are on their children, while the latter’s rest solely in the hands of Congress.  The mother and father who are crossing the border are sacrificing some of their own rights, illusions, and dreams.  Dream Act students often fall into the trap of rejecting their parents and blaming them for their lack of status.  The truth is that government inaction, and family confusion, have led to the current mess.  Being 13 and 10 at the time, we immigrated with a lot of awareness and our eyes wide open.  A lot of our peers don’t realize their lack of status, or their lack of rights because of it, until they finish high school.  It’s heartbreaking for them, and heartbreaking for us to think that we are about to have tens of thousands of students hit that wall again.

In all the hate mail we receive, many encourage us to go back to our countries and quit being a burden on this one.  Our sister did just that.  It was 2007 and she had been out of high school for five years.  She could not go to college in the United States because she had come to the country later in life.  You had to do three years of high school to qualify for in-state tuition.  She did only two, and waited in vain for Bush to fulfill his promise.  She waited. And waited.  And did not let her lack of status hold her back.

She turned her attention to our church, drove a 1968 Volkswagen bug, organized group outings, went skydiving, and bought us cool things.  And one day she decided her life could no longer be on hold.

She brought her own ticket, packed her own bags, chose her own destiny.  Today is her 26th birthday.

Where does that leave us?  With cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that we haven’t seen in ten years, and a sister, who is expecting our niece or nephew in September, who we haven’t seen in three years.  It leaves us pondering if we will get to hold the baby’s hand while they’re still small, or if we will have to wait until he or she is a grown person for us to finally meet him or her.  How much longer are we going to wait?

Dreamers are starting to walk around with open wounds.  If the current system hurts people, it hurts everyone.  They are, after all, just offering the highest truth of what everyday life means to them.  And it hurts.  Bush did nothing about it.  McCain tried a conservative approach and failed.  Buchanan only makes the news when he says stupid things.  And the current president, who began making promises to the Dream Generation during his time in the Illinois State Senate, is putting the blame on Republicans.

We need immigration reform in 2010. The youth, in particular, need it more than ever.  We need to come out.  We need to march.

USSA Dream Advocates give Senator Durbin his United We Dream/ DreamActivist hat last year.

During last week’s Board of Directors meeting, the United States Student Association (USSA) has endorsed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for American Security And Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP), introduced by Congressman Luis Gutierrez late last year.

It is refreshing to see an organization such as USSA, which represents 4.5 million students in 400 campuses, recognize that the best interest of the nation are in an educated workforce and that means access to educational opportunities for all students, including DREAM Act-eligible undocumented students.

While the DREAM Act was unanimously supported in last year’s Congress, support was divided for the bill signifying the “comprehensive approach” to immigration reform does not currently have the same support as the DREAM Act among many youth leaders. Still, pro-migrant student leaders at the nation’s oldest and largest American college student association prevailed in supporting this legislation that will uphold our shared values and bring Americans closer together.

Special thanks go out to USSA Board of Directors members Tommy Le from UC Santa Cruz and Andrea Ortega from UCLA (member of IDEAS at UCLA), for their work on the resolution. Here’s the text:

United States Student Association

A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF:

Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009

Presented by: Golden Pacific Region

WHEREAS, 65,000 undocumented young people graduate from high school annually,

WHEREAS, these young people are left with no option to invest into the country that they call home,

WHEREAS, on December 15, 2009, Representative Gutierrez along with 92 other representatives from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, or HR 4321, or  CIR ASAP,

WHEREAS, the CIR ASAP has a DREAM Act measure that would permit high school graduates who immigrated to the United States before they were 15 and lived in the country for at least 5 years prior to the introduction of the legislation and are under the age of 35 at the time of enactment, to gain conditional residency,

WHEREAS, this conditional residency is furthermore contingent upon requiring these students to be of “good moral character,” and complete either two years of post-secondary education, military service, or employment,

WHEREAS, the DREAM Act is intended for individuals who were brought to the United States as children and who shall not be punished for alleged transgressions of their parents, deserving to be judged according to their own character and merit regardless of their country of birth or immigrant status,

WHEREAS, CIR ASAP provides another path for the United States Student Association and its coalition partners to further push for the Federal DREAM Act,

WHEREAS, the DREAM Act measure in CIR ASAP is in line with USSA’s vision and mission by providing access to undocumented students,

WHEREAS, the United States needs young, educated and hard-working adults to compete in the global economy,

WHEREAS, an investment in undocumented students through the DREAM Act is an investment in the U.S. economy,

LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the United States Student Association and the Board of Directors supports Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009,

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that the national staff issue a statement encouraging Congress to pass CIR ASAP, emphasizing the DREAM Act measure,

LET IT FINALLY BE RESOLVED, that the United States Student Association take pre-cautionary measures to protect the DREAM Act provision in CIR ASAP from amendments that would eliminate or detrimentally affect it – through tactics such as lobbying and having call-in days.

Remember Clueless? From the 90s? Beverly Hills High School meets Jane Austen’s Emma?

So, OK, like right now, for example, the Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all “What about the strain on our resources?” But it’s like, when I had this garden party for my father’s birthday right? I said R.S.V.P. because it was a sit-down dinner. But people came that like, did not R.S.V.P. so I was like, totally buggin’. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, squish in extra place settings, but by the end of the day it was like, the more the merrier! And so, if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion, may I please remind you that it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty?

Thank you for that, Cher.

 

Cher is only one in a long line of women who have spoken loudly and proudly for humane immigration reform (alright, Cher is fictional, but I like that she treats everybody like a potential party guest.  Because that’s what it is. A Party in the U.S.A.)

 “Immigrants rights ARE women’s rights,” it says in the guiding principles of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights, a group that sprang from the National Organization of Women. Supporting comprehensive immigration reform seems like a logical conclusion for women’s advocacy organizations.  Women’s issues are exacerbated when there is less than full protection of rights by the Constitution.

Gender-based violence becomes especially amplified: the exploitation of women’s legal vulnerability produces mental, physical, and emotional violence at the hands of traffickers, smugglers,  intimate partners, employers, and others. Barriers like language, threats of deportation, intimidation by destroying important documents, and threats to report status to employers are multiple ways in which women are barred from getting help.

After Proposition 200 passed in Arizona, there were many reports of domestic violence victims afraid to report abuse, and the American Bar Association reports the following statistics: 48% of Latinas in one study reported that their partner’s violence against them had increased since they emigrated to the United States.  A survey of immigrant Korean women found that 60% had been battered by their husbands.  About 59.5% of married immigrant women and 49.8% of unmarried immigrant women experience physical and sexual abuse.

 

While women´s rights organizations haven´t jumped onto the CIR ASAP bandwagon- I mean party- yet (only three of the bajillions of sponsoring organizations of CIR ASAP are oriented towards women´s issues), they should. And soon…  It´s not like they´re unaware of issues in immigration reform.  The National Organization of Women published a 2006 conference resolution calling for comprehensive immigration reform. The League of Women Voters issued a statement in support of a path to citizenship.

 

Both women’s rights and immigration are about restoring agency- expanding choices so that people can make their own decisions about their lives.  Just as the pro-choice movement is about giving women choices in their reproductive lives (instead of forcing women into a corner), the DREAM Act, for example, is also about giving young immigrants choices.  Right now, the options include returning to a country that hardly exists in memory, getting married, working a minimum wage job because they don’t check too closely for identification, receiving an undergraduate college degree and then working a minimum wage job because they don´t check too closely for identification, and joining the military-where there is some chance of citizenship, althought all too frequently it is granted post-humously.

For the young immigrant who wants to be a doctor, an engineer, a teacher, a lawyer, forcing this range of choices is a heartbreaker.  The DREAM Act is about not letting anybody tell you who you are and what your place is in the world. In many situations, that is still the case with women- being defined by outside forces- and that is what the women´s rights movement fundamentally opposes.  Across the board the issues are similar-don’t tell me what to do- forget my age, my sexual orientation, my race, etc.- let me decide who I am and what I want to be in the world, and whether or not you like it, it will be the right decision, simply because I get to be the one that makes it.

Today is the day, ladies and gentleman.

Today is the day that Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, better known as CIR ASAP (yes, it is that cool to get the ASAP as the acronym!)

Throughout this morning I have been following several updates provided from pro-migrant Tweeps within the Twitterverse who were anxiously waiting updates from the CIR ASAP event that took place today on the hill. Some who were actually sitting down within the press conference themselves, which may I say, did an excellent job at reporting from the trenches what was being said within the press conference room.

The DREAM Act was mentioned in the conference!

We have a conference call tomorrow at 3 PM PST, 6 PM EST to explain the DREAM Act components of this new immigration reform bill. You can sign up for that call here: http://action.dreamactivist.org/cir_call

The full blown coverage will be provided after the jump… so please hold tight as this particular post develops. See you all tonight!

And yes, I will cover UAFA as well on this post.

::UPDATE::

Here is the total blog post for the event of today, just like I promised.

As mentioned, I have been running around all day like a headless chicken, as if most of us haven’t, but thank to Twitter and the wonderful people providing updates directly from their seats at the press conference, I was able to stitch somewhat the overall picture.

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 was introduced today within the walls of the Rayburn House office building. The press conference spanned about two hours in total, with different statements from various Representatives all from a variety of caucuses, obviously the Hispanic Caucus but here is a list of the other caucuses and the members that spoke on their behalf:

• Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-4), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force
• Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-12), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11), Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus
• Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15), Chair of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
• Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA-6), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
• Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43)
• Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
• Rep. Judy Chu (CA-32)
• Rep. Joseph Crowley (NY-7)
• Rep. Sam Farr (CA-17)
• Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20)
• Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
• Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
• Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA-38)
• Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (TX-27)
• Rep. Pedro R. Pierluisi (PR-At large)
• Rep. Jared Polis (CO-2)
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)
• Rep. Jose E. Serrano (NY-16)
• Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9)

And other Members of Congress…

Rep. Gutierrez led the conversation and gave several statements about the importance of this bill and why it is needed now, and not later. Moreover, apparently it seemed important to highlight over and over that CIR ASAP enjoys 89 co-sponsors (the number ranges from 87-89 I guess THOMAS will have the last say once the bill is up), something that is a huge deal this time around since the last time the bill was presented it only had 25 co-sponsors when it got kick started.

I do not intend to give you the whole play by play otherwise this post would be a manual, so for your enjoyment bellow are quotes of what was discussed (courtesy of @MicEvHil and @ClinicLegal)

“ Rep. Honda: People say Asians are boat people, well some of us came in a boat, some in slave ship, some in refugee boat, but we’re all in same boat”

“ Rep. Becerra: it is time for the politicians to stand with the public”

“Rep. Polis: Reforming immigration system is critical, ensures domestic tranquility- makes families, workplace stronger”

“Rep. D. Clarke: I, too, am the face of CIR. We will have buses coming from Brooklyn and Brooklyn dont play”

“Rep. Hinojosa: This CIR also incorporates the AgJobs bill to allow farmworkers to earn legalization”

“Rep Hinojosa: Proud to support the Dream Act, young people who aspire to better lives”

The conference then moved to a brief Q&A session in which a question about the DREAM Act surface specifically:

Q: “Is the DREAM Act in the bill?”

Gutierrez quickly pointed out that “his” Dream Act, was a vast improvement on the stand alone bill. Something that we will discuss on a different blog post to be up soon. Oh heres another one you may be thinking about as you read this:

Q: Why will it pass this time? Gutierrez: ”
“We’re getting the confidence from the mosaic you see here.”

If you want to take a break from your daily routine, maybe you have some spare time, I invite you to read over the bill itself which can be found here. Yes a long read, but for most of you anxious little people, this will probably be a lot better than an eighth Harry Potter book (if that ever was to be, but hey one can DREAM right?)

By the way, by the time you read this bill you probably notice that LGBTQ families have been thrown under the bus in CIR ASAP. Where is Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in this bill? I guess its time to hit that #p2 hashtag on your Twitter accounts folks.

Keep an aye out for our comparison post on DREAM Act vs. DREAM Act