Thread: THE DREAM ACT NEEDS YOUR CALL NOW

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The DREAM Act Needs Your Call Now

New America Media, Commentary, Rich Stolz, Posted: Sep 20, 2007

Editor’s Note: The Senate is getting ready to debate the DREAM Act which would help undocumented youth earn a path to citizenship through higher education or military service. But as anti-immigrant activists ramp up their efforts to bring down the bill, this bipartisan bill needs all the help it can get says Rich Stolz, immigration director for the Center for Community Change, a national social justice non-profit which coordinates the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM). Immigration Matters regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates.

Two years ago, on the eve of a major event in Washington, D.C., that would have called on Congress to pass the DREAM Act, we got the news that one of the youth that had planned to join us in Washington had killed himself. He had lost hope that the DREAM Act could ever pass, that there would ever be a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. He thought that any hope for a future was slipping away.

Each year as many as 65,000 promising and talented students graduate from high school or college and find themselves stuck -- unable to go on to higher education or enter the workforce -- because of their immigration status. However, passage of the DREAM Act would allow these students to earn a path to citizenship either through higher education or military service.

Immigrant communities need this important legislation now. In the wake of the Senate's failure to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, the real human consequences of not passing any relief for America's undocumented population are clear. Millions of immigrants are living in fear of having their families torn apart through detention, deportation and criminalization. Not only do we need to find ways to protect these immigrant families, the immigrant rights movement needs a victory. We need a marker that can establish in real terms that there is enough support and understanding in Congress that a legalization program is possible soon.

As early as this week, the DREAM Act will face another opportunity in Congress. Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., intend to attach the DREAM Act as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill that will be debated on the Senate floor.

At the same time, anti-immigrant extremists are already organizing to kill the DREAM Act and the dreams of thousands of immigrant youth along with it. They hope to reignite the same hate-mongering machine that cowed the Senate into defeating hopes for comprehensive immigration reform earlier this year. And they're arguing in their own propaganda that legalizing these students could mean more immigrants in the future: what if these students legalized their parents? Where would it end?

It's a bold pronouncement. But what are they really saying? They're saying that America is brown enough. Never mind that thousands of European, Latino, Asian and African youth are all suffering in immigration limbo, fearing possible deportation to nations they've never known, unable to contribute to the nation they grew up in and consider home.

That's why, united for a common dream, immigrant youth gathered in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 19. They had no other choice than to act. To not act means to give up hope. Rodrigo, who came to the United States at the age of six after watching his father getting killed -- now he's a valedictorian and aspires to go to medical school -- has not given up on his dream. He and dozens of other immigrant youth, who will benefit from the DREAM Act, spoke directly to their representatives and senators to urge them to support DREAM. This courageous act was followed by hundreds of other students who organized vigils, educational forums and congressional visits in their backyard in solidarity. But they will also need the help of all caring Americans, immigrants and non-immigrants alike to win this fight.

Much of the debate about the DREAM Act in the Senate this week will be geared toward the military option -- immigrant youth can earn citizenship by serving in the military. This is why they will try to attach the DREAM Act to the Department of Defense bill. Many of our communities will find this objectionable; it's not a new phenomenon for military recruiters to target minority communities. Many immigrant youth may go to the military as a consequence of the DREAM Act -- many of them want to. Many immigrant youth will also go to college. But what matters most is that both the military and college are options, and thousands of immigrant youth will have real hope at last. Hopelessness and fear is not an option.

And let's remember for America to be a land of opportunity for everyone who lives here, our policies must recognize that we are all in it together with common human rights and responsibilities -- what affects one affects us all as a nation. If one group can be exploited, underpaid and prevented from becoming part of our society, none of us will enjoy the opportunity and rights that America stands for.

Now is the time to make our voices heard in support of our neighbors, friends, colleagues and community members. Call your senators and urge them to support the DREAM Act. An 800 # that can be used for the Capitol switchboard is 1-(800)-828-0498.

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http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_art ... 2aff988020

Psalm 91

They are trying to react to us.

Dixie

Re:

And let's remember for America to be a land of opportunity for everyone who lives here , our policies must recognize that we are all in it together with common human rights and responsibilities

Huh????
Nothing like sticking to one's convictions staring blindly into the facts, applicable laws, and common sense.

What a pile of garbage and detritus.

I could care less some illegal alien unstable kid killed himself in despair over the DREAM Act not passing that last time it was considered.

I could care less illegal alien familes are being "torn apart". The fault is ALL their own.

I could care less that 65,000 promising college age students find themselves stuck and unable to go into the workforce or college.

I could care less that thousands of European, Latino, Asian and African youth are all suffering in immigration limbo, fearing possible deportation to nations they've never known, unable to contribute to the nation they grew up in and consider home.

But I care deeply that AMERICAN CITIZENS and LEGAL RESIDENTS are under constant assult from hordes of illegal aliens in all facets of their work, community and life.

Let's fire up the phones, faxes and e-mails ALIPAC'ers!!! This is a fight that we must win. Please, everyone do as much as you can...and everyone do something!

If you need some motivation, just look at NAM (New Amer. Media) web site 'About' page:

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/vi ... page_id=87

Looks like cultural unity is not high on their priority list, but have bought into multiculturalism with hook, line and sinker.

Check out the "News by Ethnicities" section. Or, look at the "Multilingual Polling text:

"NAM Multilingual Polling

NAM launched its multilingual polling initiative in 2002 to gauge the views of non-English speaking and ethnic minority populations normally excluded from mainstream public opinion surveys.

Through its quarterly multilingual polling initiative, NAM is driving home the point that to track public opinion in the United States without accessing immigrant, ethnic and non-English speaking communities is to discount the voice of a large segment of the population.

In states like California, Texas, New York, Georgia, New Mexico and Maryland where minority populations have become the new majority, accessing these opinions is more vital than ever."