Thread: DREAM Sabbath 2011 highlights cause

DREAM Sabbath 2011 highlights cause

By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: September 22, 2011
Updated: September 23, 2011 - 12:10 AM
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About 300 houses of worship, including churches in Winston-Salem, Elkin and Boonville, are joining a national campaign to raise awareness about young educated immigrants who have grown up mostly in the U.S. but are not authorized to be in the country.
The campaign, known as DREAM Sabbath 2011, is named after the DREAM Act, proposed legislation that would give a pathway to legal residency status to such immigrants. In North Carolina, 10 churches have signed up to participate during September and October, according to the Washington-based advocacy group Interfaith Immigration Coalition, which is organizing the event.
Among the churches are Centro Refugio in Winston-Salem, the Divine Redeemer Parish in Boonville and Galloway Memorial Episcopal Church in Elkin. Young immigrants who would likely qualify for the DREAM Act are being invited to houses of worship to speak about their experiences, said Jane Motsinger, the director of the outreach program at Galloway Memorial.
"If we profess to be Christians in this country, and a lot of us do, then it's not just enough to talk the talk. We feel very strongly that we need to walk the walk, and in doing so follow Jesus where he wants us to go. Sometimes those places are uncomfortable, and sometimes those places are not where we want to go. But he calls us to go anyway, and he commands us to love one another," Motsinger said Thursday.
The case of the "dreamers" highlights the complexity of the immigration debate.
Many Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as the Obama administration, agree that illegal immigrants who pose a danger to public safety should be deported and that border security should be tightened. But divisions become clearer when the discussion focuses on young educated immigrants who would qualify for the DREAM Act.
Opponents of the DREAM Act say that such immigrants should be deported. They say that "dreamers" take jobs, and they burden taxpayers by driving up public education costs. In addition, they say, allowing such immigrants to correct their legal status is tantamount to giving them amnesty — and that would create an incentive for other immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally.
In North Carolina, there are about 51,000 "dreamers," less than 1 percent of the state population, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C.
One of those immigrants will be the guest speaker Sunday at Galloway Memorial in Elkin, which is in Surry County. Moises Serrano, a straight-A student who graduated from Starmount High School in Yadkin County, will talk about his experiences as a once-stellar student who now faces limited options.
Because Serrano is not authorized to be in the United States, he cannot get a driver's license in North Carolina. And although he has lived in Yadkin County nearly all of his life and could likely get into the state's top colleges and universities, he is not enrolled full time because he cannot afford the out-of-state tuition that he would be required to pay.
"It's important to reach out to the community to educate them on issues of the immigrant population. I have seen that not many people know what the DREAM Act consists of. They don't want to vote on it or want to know anything about an issue if they don't put a face on it," said Serrano, who is a member of the immigrant advocacy group El Cambio, based in Yadkinville.
David Velez, the pastor at Ciudad Refugio in Winston-Salem, heard about the DREAM Sabbath campaign recently and is planning to invite an immigrant such as Serrano to his church, he said.
"If you look at the (immigration) issue from a legal point of view, you could say that they're illegal. But if you look at it from the point of view of a human being, I think that isn't right. I'd say that this country is made up of immigrants," Velez said.
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"If you look at the (immigration) issue from a legal point of view, you could say that they're illegal. But if you look at it from the point of view of a human being, I think that isn't right. I'd say that this country is made up of immigrants," Velez said.

WRONG! They ARE illegal and draining the system and get catered to. NO DREAM ACT! NO AMNESTY!