Thread: Area activists cheer as student escapes deportation

Area activists cheer as student escapes deportation
By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: October 04, 2011
Updated: October 04, 2011 - 11:59 PM
Rodrigo Cruz, a 16-year-old high school student preparing for deportation, walked into an immigration office in Charlotte on Tuesday with a $155 bus ticket to
Mexico and walked out with permission to stay temporarily in the United States.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials granted Cruz deferred action, ending a 10-month deportation proceeding just weeks before his Oct. 21 deportation deadline, and allowing him to stay in the United States at least until he is 18.
"It's been hard," said Cruz, who attends Harding High School in Charlotte. "Every lawyer that we talked to — they all told me my case was a lost case. But I just kept looking."
As Cruz walked out of the ICE office, Yadkin County resident Giovanna Hurtado was one of about 30 supporters waiting outside.
"We didn't know what to think. When he went in, we thought he was going to get deported. But then later, he comes out with a big smile on his face, and we were like, 'Yes!'" said Hurtado, a member of the Yadkin County El Cambio group, dedicated to immigrant advocacy.
The decision to grant deferred action was in accordance with new guidelines handed down by ICE Director John Morton and publicly supported by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Barack Obama. And it highlights the apparent effect that immigrant-advocacy groups have on how ICE officials carry out those guidelines.
The guidelines, issued in a June 17 memo by Morton to ICE agents, include many underpinnings of the DREAM Act, proposed federal legislation that would give young immigrants such as Cruz a pathway toward correcting their residency status.
For example, Morton said ICE officials should consider the circumstances of the person's arrival in the United States, particularly if the person arrived as a child. They should consider the person's age, particularly minors and the elderly. The person's pursuit of education is another factor that should be considered, according to the memo.
Cruz arrived in the U.S. when he was 10. He said he has been a good student, though his grades dropped recently because of the specter of deportation. In January, Cruz was accused of shoplifting at a Charlotte mall, but the charges were later dropped. The deportation process began after he was accused. Cruz's record today remains clean.
Cruz said Tuesday that he now has renewed motivation to do well in school.
His mother, Angelica Ambrosio, said the feeling of relief was indescribable.
"I feel like they have returned my soul to my body," she said in Spanish.
Before Tuesday, Cruz had found little optimism from immigration attorneys, he said. Eventually, he found help from several grass-roots immigrant advocacy groups: Action N.C., whose principal members are in Raleigh and Charlotte; N.C. Dream Team, which also has principal members in those cities; and El Cambio.
During the past two weeks, they have used the Internet, social networking, petitions, phone banks, public-speaking events and news conferences to bring light to Cruz's case. The online petition provided Napolitano's phone number and a sample script, part of which reads, Cruz "dreams of going to college to study international relations. Don't deport Rodrigo Cruz."
The advocacy groups made the difference in Cruz's case, said Martin Rodriguez, a Yadkin County resident and member of El Cambio.
"I know they did by the fact that the petitions and the phone banks made a huge difference. It's amazing how one signature and one call can make a difference," Rodriguez said. "This is a case that has been actually going on since January. This whole time, the family has gone to so many lawyers that didn't want to support it. But when N.C. Dream Team and Action N.C. got involved, that's when things changed."
The new ICE guidelines and its similarities with the DREAM Act have come under fire.
Opponents say the DREAM Act gives immigrants backdoor amnesty. In addition, they say, it would encourage more illegal immigration. The solution, they say, is for all illegal immigrants to return to their native countries and apply for entry. Meanwhile, supporters of the DREAM Act say immigrants such as Cruz should not be punished for something their parents did and that these young people are assets to society.
In the United States, about 2 million immigrants might be eligible for the DREAM Act, according to a 2010 report by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington. In North Carolina, there are about 51,000, less than 1 percent of the state population.
"We showed up with community support and Cruz wasn't quiet about it," said Domenic Powell, a founding member of N.C. Dream Team. "He was willing to bring this process and struggle to light of day."
When Cruz turns 18, he may be eligible for other extensions, Powell said, particularly if he tries to go to college
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/oc ... r-1463262/

NC House Representative George Cleveland (District 14, Onslow County) introduced a bill in January 2011 that would prohibit illegal aliens from attending North Carolina’s community college and universities.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BILL

It was sent to the education committee and was not allowed to be heard by the leadership and most likely will never be heard from again. If the RINGOS and LIBERALS have their way.

Same old bull. Say or do anything to get elected

Be sure to send Representative Cleveland an email thanking him for introducing NOTHING.
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/m ... UserID=476

We have more elephants in Raleigh NC. It just the same old circus.

There are three, very efficient, very simple, very obvious, and very well known solutions to stopping illegal immigration from Mexico. None of which the US government is willing to do, for fear it will upset the underground economy or the new political monster now growing in the United States, namely illegal aliens from Mexico.

Here they are:

1: Convict and imprison employers of illegal aliens.

2: End anchor baby automatic citizenship.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-249629.html

3: Build and patrol an effective physical wall the entire length of the 1,969 mile long Mexican border.

HOW CENTRAL IS THE ANCHOR BABY ISSUE TO IMMIGRATION REFORM
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-249629.html

[b]Having the Status of Birthright Citizenship Is Not Sufficient to Make One an Article II “Natural Bornâ€

AMNESTY by decree! King Obama waived his scepter and gave this illegal alien and millions like him a pardon without the permission of Congress or We The People.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

AMNESTY by decree! King Obama waived his scepter and gave this illegal alien and millions like him a pardon without the permission of Congress or We The People.

W

Here are two more in this story that King Obama waived his scepter on:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-251570-luis.html+cervantes

"In January, Cruz was accused of shoplifting at a Charlotte mall, but the charges were later dropped."

Why were the charges dropped?

In any case, we need enforcement of our immigration laws. If all they do is turn their heads at all deporttion cases, we are screwed.