Have you participated in our coming out actions? GREAT!

Not only is important to be out and about as a Dream Act student, but also to be counted in the census!

Here at DreamActivist we can’t stress enough the importance of participating in the census. Not only is it an important form to be filled out every ten years, but it’s also, short, simple, and should be completed by all. Don’t forget the “good moral standing” requirement for the Dream Act!

Our friends over at USSA have compiled facts, figures, and made it a simple for all students to understand. Now I know you guys must be thinking: Wait this is a federal form? That the government will see? Heck, there is not way I am telling them about my status, and much less where I reside!

Well, if you’re sitting in the comfort of your home, or on the bus reading this, then don’t take it from us! Take it from the big man himself:

“[Senator] Reid said information on the forms will not be shared with any agencies, like law enforcement or immigration officials”.

Don’t believe him? Well take a second to read over a piece of USSA’s census page:

It’s Confidential!
By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with anyone, including other federal agencies and law enforcement entities. All Census employees take an oath of nondisclosure and are sworn to protect confidentiality.

Are you a student? Are you a Dream Act student? No need to fear, participate, be active. After all you are fighting to stay in the only country you have know as home, right?  Be a better citizen than a lot of Americans, and fill out your census form.

It’s been more than a year since I joined the DreamACTivist team and I have never even met one of the founders of the site in person, let alone celebrate our various success with the whole team.

I guess its been due to the fact that we are students volunteering our time to building a grassroots movement using new media and we often forget about such things. I am often calling out press, receiving messages, recruiting members, looking for new ways to reach out to others, that I even forget about doing my weekly post. Nothing bad with forgetting, but I just wish there could be so much more that I could do to better serve the readers and carry out a more effective communication strategy.

I hope all of you are pleased with the amount of effort and content we have to offer, as we are always looking for new and better ways to make information more accessible to everyone and network to increase awareness about the DREAM Act. So in the spirit of networking and to celebrate our various successes (and dwell on failures), some of our members are attending the unconference ‘RootsCamp‘ hosted by NOI in Washington DC.

This great opportunity will provide us with more resources support the DREAM Act movement. However, we need your help!

Please feel free to drop us a dollar or two as everything helps in order to continue our efforts to keep bringing you the best material and updated info.

GO DREAM ACT!

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.

MARCH 6: DREAM Act petition launched

The shoestring budget website was up and running and on its way to more than 25,000 signatories. Its new URL is DREAMAct.com and you can still use it as one of the many ways to get connected to the DREAM movement.

MARCH 20-24: The United States Students Association gets DREAMing.

The largest and oldest student-led organization in the nation stood with undocumented students by fighting for our right to an education. While our opposition continues to claim American citizens are hurt by our presence in their schools, hundreds of American students walked the halls of Congress advocating for the DREAM Act and Student Aid Reform. Our very own Juan wrote this report. Sofia from UCLA gave this speech. Our biggest ally in Congress, Dick Durbin from Illinois, was there to welcome the students and encourage them to fight.

MARCH 27: DREAM Act introduced

While the so-called leadership in both houses of Congress failed to recognize the urgency of immigration reform and the crazies in the opposition kept waving the anti-immigrant flag, our biggest advocates were there to once again introduce S. 729: The DREAM Act and H.R. 1751: American Dream Act. A hope was renewed.

MARCH 30: Minutemen for the DREAM Act?

Minutemen President Chris Simcox reacts to the news of introduction by saying he is “not necessarily against” the bill. One of the early signs that anti-immigrant advocates would rather give undocumented youth a narrow path to legal status rather than have them fight for broad change for their whole families. Something to keep in mind as we push for CIR ASAP in 2010.

APRIL 3: Microsoft endorses the DREAM Act

Mac-using Dreamers take a step back. After Bill Gates’ company issues a surprising endorsement of the DREAM Act, it is now cool to use a PC.

APRIL 15: Berkeley Dreamers make it to ABC News

Students – and the chancellor – of the University of California Berkeley were interviewed on this important piece by ABC News.

APRIL 21: College Board issues report, endorses DREAM Act in Capitol Hill

“The growing pool of young adults who lack both adequate educational access to keep them socially mobile and the legal right to work in the United States presents serious problems not only for the students themselves but also for U.S. society as a whole.”
–Roberto G. Gonzales, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, who authored the report.

APRIL 22: Dreamers debate in the New York Times

The Room for Debate feature in the NY Times opinion website featured two online DreamActivists standing up against Mark Krikorian from CIS.

Our human rights are a prohibitively high price to pay in the opposition to the bill. We know, because we have been paying it. – Nick, Dream Act Portal

What is American? Who is an American? The lack of a nine-digit Social Security number and a green card does not make me less American in my tastes, values and ambitions. – Prerna, promigrant.org

APRIL 23: UCLA Dreamer in CNN Morning News

My legs were shaking, but the outpour of love from all over made me feel happy I shared my story with the world.

A few weeks ago, I received a request from Kristina Rizga, the Executive Editor of Wiretap Magazine, inviting me to participate in a forum reflecting what lessons and opportunities the post- election environment has brought for youth organizers. The article was published in a youth-oriented issue of The Nation, and it included contributions from United We Dream, The Bus Federation, the Energy Action Coalition, and the League of Young Voters.

The “Obama Generation” has gone from a hope-driven election campaign to an accountability-oriented year of activism. But as I sat to write about how undocumented students have reacted to a year of delayed promises and congressional backlogs, I could not avoid thinking how much more our cause is affected by the weight that each day of delay carries in us. I hope you enjoy my submission, quoted below.

Thanks to Kristina and The Nation for giving us another opportunity to take the message of the DREAM Act Generation to a new audience.

THE STATE OF YOUTH ORGANIZING

When the Obama campaign inspired and mobilized a wave of new young voters, youth organizers across the country rejoiced. They anticipated increased funding from donors and foundations to help bring this growing voting bloc into policy debates and community organizing. They hoped for increased media coverage for issues ranging from college costs to green jobs to healthcare reform. Instead, youth organizers have often found themselves feeling as if they’re sitting on a bus that’s out of service. As markets crashed, already meager funding pools got even smaller. Most media outlets chose to spotlight the absence of youth at healthcare town halls, which were often staged at empty college campuses over the summer break, rather than the thousands of environmental and education activists who stormed Washington to support reductions of carbon emissions, creation of green jobs and the passage of the DREAM Act. And with a few exceptions, the Obama administration stopped talking to young people directly.

Despite these obstacles, young activists continued to organize. The Nation asked four leading youth organizers to suggest specific ways the Obama administration and the progressive movement could help them succeed in 2010 to mobilize the most diverse and socially progressive generation.

Matias Ramos, United We Dream

The DREAM Act–a bill in Congress that seeks to create an earned path to legal status for undocumented immigrant youth–failed to pass 377 days before Obama was elected. It was introduced again sixty-five days after his inauguration, and thousands of people like me–undocumented students–are still counting the days.

Our country is home to about 2.5 million undocumented youth. Only a fraction of them have an opportunity to enroll in college like I did. That’s a huge loss for our economy, because college graduates earn (and pay taxes on) twice as much income as those without high school diplomas. In 2006, five years after undocumented students were allowed to enter Texas colleges at in-state tuition rates, the state comptroller reported that undocumented workers produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.

This year there is undeniable and growing energy within our movement, coming from immigrants and citizens alike. United We Dream, a youth-led immigrants’ rights network mobilizing support for the DREAM Act, was established to provide a united front made up of a few national organizations, dozens of student groups and individual students hungry for change. In June hundreds of DREAMers went to Washington for a symbolic “DREAM Act Graduation.” Thousands more participated in more than 120 local actions in twenty-eight states celebrating back-to-school day in September.

We need progressives of all ages and backgrounds to join in this fight. Establishing a progressive immigration policy should be a goal not only for the Latino or Asian-American communities but for all those concerned with social justice and fairness. DREAMers across the country are saying the time is now. We know–we’ve been counting the days.

Most of the issue’s articles are available here. Rizga’s is only available to subscribers, but I strongly recommend the article highlighting the history of the United States Students Association, one of our strongest allies in the fight for the DREAM Act.

• 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.

Courtesy: Life By DREAM

There are equally important issues that we have to focus on. One of these issues gets to my heart.  It’s an issue that I discovered about 10 years ago, when someone called my office and said “I have a daughter in Chicago who has been accepted to Guilard School of Music in New York and when she was filling out the application, she turned to me and said what is my citizenship? And I had to tell her that I didn’t know.” You see, this mother, a Korean -American, had brought her daughter to this country when her daughter was two years old. And her mother never filed any papers. And so literally, her daughter was undocumented. We called the Immigration Service and said, “Her daughter has lived here for 17 years, no criminal record, she’s been a good student, now she wants to go onto college, what should she do?”

And they said the answer is obvious. She should go back to Korea [boos]. THAT is the wrong answer. That is the wrong answer for her, it’s the wrong answer for thousands of students who came to this country at a very early age, a young age, grew up here, who are part of America, who have an education and have something good to offer with their lives.

[...]

We need to make sure that when the issue of immigration comes before us and it will, that the DREAM Act is the first item of business. We need justice for the young people in this country who want to give back to America.

See this post by S.Aran for an update from USSA. More videos will be available soon.

Without any doubts this past weekend at Washington D.C has to be one of the best experiences in my life. Not only did I get the opportunity to meet and network with some of the brightest, and most active members of the student bodies from across the country, but also got to meet in the flesh some of my fellow DREAMers.

Yes, some of the people who I have been in contact with exclusively online now actually have a face, and feel to them. Their enthusiasm and high energy is vast and inspiring, as we took the weekend to network with fellow students and spread awareness about the Federal DREAM Act within this years LegCon.

United State Student Association (USSA) hosts a conference each year in which it target to educate and prepare students to lobby their congressmen -women on regards of the current issues students face to get equal access to higher education. USSA’s motto “Education is a RIGHT!” is nothing short of exhilarating, since it is able to fuel up enthusiasm to those present who see in fact that those standing next to them regardless of their state, monetary situation, or ethnicity are students just like them and are present in the conference for one sole purpose: EDUCATION.

Each year USSA picks two main issues to tackle, and throughout LegCon (Legislative Conference) it holds a variety of workshops in which they educate students on why and how these issues impact them, and their fellow peers. This year we were fortunate enough to gather the backing USSA to spread awareness of the federal DREAM Act, alongside a budget appropriation proposal which would make Federal Programs such as the Pell Grant more accessible to students.

From Friday to Tuesday, myself and other representatives from the United We Dream coalition were present debunking myths, answering questions, and ever sharing their personal stories with a crowd who was eager to learn more about the Federal DREAM Act. We laughed, we cried, we were loud enough to gather several signatures, endorsements from school organizations in new territories, and meet new friends. All of this towards the closing of the conference which ended in a march to Capitol on behalf of the six million students who share the same ideal of USSA that education is indeed a right.

A rally was hosted on the outsides of capitol, on which several members of congress such as Rep. Ross from California, and Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois were able to speak to an eager crowd full of students on the importance of a bigger budget for education, and what an important piece of legislation the DREAM Act is if we are to give those students who came here at a young age, yet remain undocumented within the country, a chance to put their education and degrees to good use.

The rally culminated with members of USSA, UWD and other organizations putting their lobbying techniques to practices, as they walked from congressional building and offices meetings with aides, staff, and maybe even Reps. and Sen. themselves in order to tackle both issues that USSA had brought up at this years LegCon.

Having the opportunity with meet the congressional staff of my representatives and Senators was truly an honor, as one by one pledged their support and showed concern for both the education budget and DREAM Act alike. Definitely a remarkable opportunity that allowed me to meet fellow students from the schools across my states, meet Senator Durbin in the flesh, and take part in a movement I have been active for quite some time.

It is without a doubt imperative that each and everyone of us take the time to call our congressmen, and tell them about the issues that are most important to us. As an aide from Mario Diaz-Balart’s office said:

“You alongside all of the students who are present here today truly put a face to the issue, we need more activist like you; young people, to be here on the hill and meet with us, so that everyone may see who these issues truly affect. Continue your efforts, and please call us directly, you would not believe what nasty calls we get from time to time from lobbyist and opposition to either of the measures we discussed today.”

So there you have it, please take the time be active and call or write to your congressperson; remember, that they work for you since it is your vote that sits them in their fancy congressional offices.

More reflection and roundups:

-Matias @ UndergroundUndergrads

Videos from the events should be uploaded soon. Please share any clips and video productions from this event.