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Immigration groups plan blitz
Liberal groups unite to put pressure on Senate over DREAM Act.
By Ambreen Ali

Immigration groups are planning a seven-day activism blitz for the DREAM Act.

Most of the liberal groups involved in the fight attended a gathering on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning that was planned before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that the act would come up for a vote next week.

At the event, activists excitedly plotted out how to secure enough votes to pass the DREAM Act, which gives young immigrants who join the military or go to college a path to legalization. Reid surprised the activists earlier this week when he announced that it would be part of the defense authorization bill.

"It's important that we go for the victory. Our work is to make those votes happen," Carlos Saavedra of the United We Dream Network said.

Before Wednesday's event, Saavedra walked around the church meeting with activists and telling them to organize rallies outside of Senate offices throughout the country. He and the others plan to begin their actions on Thursday and continue them until the vote.

"We need hundreds of thousands of people on the streets," he told a colleague.

Thursday's actions also come as gay-rights groups and those opposed to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell begin to pressure lawmakers on their vote. That issue will also be included in the defense reauthorization.

The immigration proposal is being included in a defense bill because it paves a way for young people to serve in the military—and for political reasons. The defense bill enjoys bipartisan support, giving the Democratic majority an opportunity to tack on provisions that Republicans may otherwise reject.

It's a strategy that conservative activists say will help them in defeating the measures. Moderate Democrats who may otherwise support the DREAM Act may disapprove of the way their party's leaders are going about passing it.

But immigrant-rights activists remained optimistic. Before the August recess, many of them didn't expect to get a vote at all this year.

That's when Saavedra was holding daily classes outside the White House to protest the delays in Congress over the DREAM Act. Youth activists who took part in that action, called Dream University, are now teaming up with the larger immigration coalitions to make a last-minute push for the act.

Those coalitions, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement and Reform Immigration for America, had previously been focused on passing a comprehensive overhaul.

Now leaders in those groups say this is the first step towards that goal.

"We will begin that journey by fighting for and winning the DREAM Act in the Senate next week," said Deepak Bhargava, head of the Center for Community Change, a liberal organizing group.

Wednesday's event included Democratic lawmakers who have worked closely with activists on the issue: Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Reps. Nydia Velazquez of New York and Luis Gutierrez of Illinois.

Menendez told the crowd that the DREAM Act vote could help Congressional leaders gauge whether there is support for a more comprehensive bill.

Unlike more contentious issues like border security and amnesty, the youth-focused act has bipartisan support. Many of the immigrants who would benefit from the legislation came to the U.S. as young children.

"We believe that as a first test of our commitment to our goals, this is about as pure as we can get in the immigration debate," Menendez said.

The senator also announced that he plans to introduce a comprehensive immigration bill soon.

He and the other lawmakers urged activists to stay committed and involved in the fight. The activist leaders present struck a similar tone.

"Months ago, pundits in D.C. wrote our movement off and called it dead," Bhargava told the crowd. "We have a message for them: We are back."

If it passes, the DREAM Act would still need approval from the House before heading to President Obama's desk.

http://www.congress.org/news/2010/09/15 ... plan_blitz