Thread: A Dozen Supporters rally for DREAM Act in Tulsa, Oklahoma City

Supporters rally for DREAM Act in Tulsa, Oklahoma City


By SARA PLUMMER World Staff Writer
Published: 5/17/2012 1:02 PM
Last Modified: 5/17/2012 10:10 PM

More than a dozen people — mostly college students — gathered Thursday afternoon in downtown Tulsa in support of the DREAM Act as part of the national Right to Dream campaign.

The DREAM Act — Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors — is a bill that would open the path to U.S. residency to illegal immigrant youths who graduate from a U.S. high school and attend college or serve in the military.

Members of DREAM Act Oklahoma organized rallies in Tulsa at the H.A. Chapman Centennial Green, at Sixth Street and Boston Avenue, and in Oklahoma City in Woodson Park. They were part of the national campaign organized by the United We Dream Network.

Holding up signs reading “Right to live with our loved ones” and chanting “Education not deportation,” some at the downtown Tulsa rally were the children of illegal immigrants. Others were friends and supporters.

Kasey Hughart, a sociology senior at the University of Tulsa, was one of the rally’s organizers.

“We just want undocumented youth to know we support them,” said Hughart, a fourth-generation Mexican-American. “The current immigration system is so outdated. It’s separating families.”
Many of Hughart’s friends are undocumented, although she didn’t know it before she met them.

“I got to know them first, then found out they were undocumented,” she said. “Generally I respect people for who they are, not where they come from.”

Paul Gonzalez and his parents came to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, more than a decade ago. He’s now a sophomore at Tulsa Community College, and immigration policies and the ideas behind the DREAM Act are meaningful to him.

“It’s a part of me,” he said. “It’s a human thing. If someone’s fallen down, why not help him out?”

Part of the immigration problem is a 15- to 20-year backlog to gain legal status, Hughart said.

“Some are living in extreme poverty, being religiously persecuted or living in violence,” she said. “You can’t wait that long with your life at risk.”

Hughart and Gonzalez said it’s not always easy voicing their opinions on immigration while living in Oklahoma.

“There’s going to be some backlash,” Hughart said. “The best way to deal with it is coming out to them personally, one on one.”

In an effort to draw more attention to their cause, a contingent of Right to Dream campaign volunteers unfurled a banner behind the stage at the Oral Roberts University graduation ceremony Thursday evening, Hughart said.

In Oklahoma City, a handful of protesters waved banners from bridges over Interstate 40 and Interstate 44, she said.
Supporters rally for DREAM Act in Tulsa, Oklahoma City | Tulsa World

This warranted coverage?

Hughart and Gonzalez said it’s not always easy voicing their opinions on immigration while living in Oklahoma.

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Wake up and smell the enchiladas. Oklahoma is among the growing number of states with recently passed legislation to make life miserable for illegal aliens, including anchor babies.

“Some are living in extreme poverty, being religiously persecuted or living in violence,” she said. “You can’t wait that long with your life at risk.”

We have citizens living in poverty or with violence in their neighborhoods and they have to live with it. What makes this lady any more special?