Thread: Winston-Salem activist highlights debate over fate of young illegal immigrants

Winston-Salem activist highlights debate over fate of young illegal immigrants


By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: March 18, 2012

To others, Alberto is an illegal immigrant who should be deported. In their view, he arrogantly halted a state House committee meeting on immigration on Feb. 29.

RALEIGH --

Gaunt from a 10-day hunger strike, Uriel Alberto had his wrists handcuffed behind his back as a guard walked him back to his cell in the Wake County Jail minutes after Alberto had given several interviews about his possible deportation to Mexico.

"We can't live in the shadows anymore. … We have to take a stand," Alberto said in the interview last week. "You tell me what the right way is, and I'll stand in that line."

In the span of two weeks, Alberto, 24, went from being an everyday breadwinner in Winston-Salem, supporting his mother, siblings and son — some of them U.S. citizens — to an immigrant activist in the national spotlight, at one point receiving support from U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

To some, Alberto is raising awareness about U.S. immigration laws.

"We didn't ask to be brought here," said Cristina Alberto, 25, his sister. "We're from a very small town in Mexico. Now, the possibility of going back to Mexico — I can't even find words for it. This (North Carolina) is all I know."

To others, Alberto is an illegal immigrant who should be deported. In their view, he arrogantly halted a state House committee meeting on immigration on Feb. 29.

Alberto and two other protesters — Estephania Mijangos-Lopez, 20, of Sanford, and Cynthia Martinez, 21, of Broadway — were charged with disorderly conduct. The others were released shortly afterward. Alberto, who has several traffic violations, was kept in jail until Thursday.

Alberto's traffic violations include a DWI, in which he said he registered a 0.04 percent blood alcohol content (the state limit is 0.08 percent) when he was under 21. His traffic violations in Forsyth County have been resolved, said Jim Wilson, one of his attorneys. Alberto was also brought up on domestic-violence charges several years ago, but they were dismissed.

In jail, Alberto started what would become a 10-day hunger strike that inspired several supporters in Winston-Salem to go on a hunger strike for several days.

"My advice to him is to let him starve to death," one caller said in a voice mail to a reporter after reading a news article about Alberto's arrest.

National attention

Alberto's case has become a lightning rod in the national debate over what to do with this younger generation of people who were brought into the U.S. as children and did not knowingly break any immigration laws.

Critics question why they don't take steps to apply for legal residency, but that would mean leaving the country and risking getting barred from returning for as many as 10 years as they try to apply to re-enter.

Instead, young unauthorized immigrants such as Alberto stay in the U.S. and join a subculture of youths who can't apply for a driver's license or Social Security number to get a job. There is no legal route that Alberto or young immigrants like him can take while in the U.S. to seek legal residency or citizenship.

Their situation would be addressed by the Dream Act, proposed federal legislation that would give certain young immigrants a path to legal status as long as the pay a fine, pursue a college education and do not have a serious criminal record. Immigrant activists have pushed legislators to pass it, but the legislation has stalled in Congress for years.

The problem, sometimes, is that Dream Act-eligible immigrants such as Alberto get linked with the worst stereotypes associated with illegal immigration, according to John Candillo, 69, a Winston-Salem resident who considers himself a conservative tea party member and was at the committee hearing because he is concerned about illegal immigration.

"They get lumped together and that's not good," Candillo said. "People don't differentiate between the ones brought in as children and illegal immigration."

"I am against certain parts of illegal immigration," he continued. "If you're 18 and you come hot-footing it across the border, I'm against that. But I don't think they (Dream Act-eligible youths) broke any laws. Their parents did. Now, they don't have an option to take care of residency status."

Alberto found out Wednesday that he could post bail of $7,500. Thursday night, he slept in his bed in Winston-Salem and went back to work the next day at an attorney's office. He was still thinking about some of the inmates he met in the Wake County Jail — men who also face deportation but without the benefit of having their cases under the public spotlight.

"I thought I was going to be so excited to get out, but I was moping around all day," he said. "Their stories are much worse than mine. They are men in there with families, some with four children and a wife that relies on him."

Alberto still faces the possibility of deportation as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement decides whether to prosecute his case or drop it — a move that would be in line with new ICE guidelines issued last summer.

Choosing sides

Fewer than half of the 811,000 Hispanics in North Carolina do not have legal permission to be in the U.S., according to statistics from UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School and the latest U.S. census.

Critics of the broader illegal-immigration issue say they are overwhelmed by the wave of immigration that has brought about 365,000 unauthorized Hispanic immigrants to North Carolina, according to some estimates, less than 4 percent of the state's population. In North Carolina, there are about 51,000 youths who might be eligible for the Dream Act, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a research group based in Washington.

The concerns fall along these lines: Immigrants commit crimes and clog the criminal courts; overcrowd schools and force taxpayers to spend money to hire more teaching staff and construct more buildings; and undercut U.S. workers who are trying to make an honest living. Another underlying concern is the notion that one of the first acts committed by unauthorized immigrants was to thumb their nose at U.S. immigration laws.

The costs and benefits of all Hispanics in North Carolina, including unauthorized immigrants, were listed in a UNC study released in 2006.

Hispanics in North Carolina contribute about $756 million in tax revenue statewide, according to the study. In the Winston-Salem metropolitan area, which includes surrounding counties, Hispanics wielded a purchasing power of nearly $573 million, compared with $588 million in Greensboro, $1.18 billion in Raleigh and $1.89 billion in Charlotte, according to the 2006 study.

Hispanics also cost the state budget $817 million, the study said, though it did not say how much other races or ethnicities cost the state.

Resentment surrounding illegal immigration came to a head in Raleigh on Feb. 29 at the committee hearing when Alberto abruptly stood up, peeled off his outer shirt and showed off an orange undershirt with the words "Undocumented and Unafraid."

"My name is Uriel Alberto. I am undocumented, unafraid and unashamed. I refuse to be bullied and intimidated by this committee and choose to empower my community," he shouted. As Alberto and two other protesters were escorted out of the room, some audience members shouted expletives at them and told them to "go home."

Alberto's outburst was outrageous, said some people at the committee hearing.

State Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, who is a member of the House immigration committee, said the protesters were "flaunting their illegality." Candillo, although sympathetic toward Dream Act-eligible immigrants, also spoke against the protest.

"When those folks stood up and flicked off their shirts, I thought, 'That's the wrong way to do it,' " Candillo said. "I think they hurt their cause that way."

Another Winston-Salem resident, Steven Henderson, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration who has followed Alberto's case, said the protest was an act of arrogance. However, like Candillo, Henderson said he supports the Dream Act as long as immigrants such as Alberto try to assimilate and contribute to society as Americans.

"As a human being, yes, I would be in favor of the Dream Act if that's what it takes to get them on the road ahead, but they have to put back in — run for city council, run for state office," said Henderson, 64. "Don't take it to the state House. Take it to the White House."

The protest was organized by the N.C. Dream Team, based in Raleigh, and El Cambio, based in Winston-Salem. They're grass-roots organizations that use social media and online petitions to highlight their cause and bring attention to the Dream Act. Alberto is a member of El Cambio.

"I think anybody in El Cambio and Dream Team will say, 'Yeah, well, you tell us where we can have our voices heard and how we can go about doing this,' " Alberto said during the interview in jail.

"I mean, we haven't been invited to speak by the committee. Have we? No. So, in that case, we will make our own time to speak," he continued. "If they're going to ignore us and keep us out of the decision-making, what are our options?"

Alberto gets bond

Born in a village in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1987, Alberto said he grew up in a home with dirt floors and no running water before he was brought to the U.S. when he was 7. Raised mostly in Winston-Salem, Alberto likes country music and Southern cooking, and he learned English as he attended Speas Elementary, Wiley Middle and Parkland High School.

His junior-year social studies teacher, Laura Smith-Martin, remembers Alberto as an "inspiring example" in a letter of support she wrote when she found out he was in jail.

"Uriel was always interested in how citizens make a difference in our community, our state, and our country," she wrote. "It was only later that I learned that Uriel's parents brought him illegally as a child to this country. That, perhaps, explains why he so valued the stories and opportunities of America in a way that, as teachers, we hope for every student."

"He's just an example of why our system is so broken," Smith-Martin said in a phone interview.

In the jail meeting room Monday, Alberto shook with laughter as he talked about the first meal he had after a 10-day hunger strike (eggs, bread and an orange). His shoulders squared up when he talked about wanting a chance to pursue legal residency status. His eyes flooded with tears when he talked about his son, Julian, a U.S. citizen, and their possible separation.

As a child, Alberto knew his father only through photos because his father had left for the U.S. Now, if Alberto is forced to leave the U.S., he fears that his son, a U.S. citizen, will know Alberto only through photos. Alberto wants a chance to do something with his life in the U.S.

At Parkland, Alberto became a cross-country all-conference runner of the year before graduating in 2005. He earned a partial scholarship to East Carolina University and a chance to pursue his dream of competing in Division I as a runner, he said.

But Alberto passed up the chance to go to ECU.

He couldn't afford it because public universities and colleges in North Carolina charge students like Alberto out-of-state tuition. Instead, he has joined the subculture that this new generation of unauthorized immigrants comes to know as they try to find their place in American society after graduating from high school.

"I'm a man without a country … unfortunately," Alberto said. "All my life, I've seen myself as a Mexican Southern. I'm Mexican by birth, and I'm Southern, North Carolinian, by experience. I like the South. This is my land."

For how long is the question. Alberto must now hire an attorney to take on his deportation case.

source: Winston-Salem activist highlights debate over fate of young illegal immigrants | JournalNow.com

His parents broke the law. It is their fault that he could be deported, not ours. We shouldn't be rewarding the illegal parents by giving their children special treatment. Get in the back of the line like everyone else. We have people who wait their time and pay their dues to come here the proper way and with respect, no one should be allowed to cut in front of the line.

As the past Senior Class President of East Carolina University 1994-1995, I am very happy that Uriel Alberto is not stealing one of the limited seats at ECU or any other UNC System college. I played a key role in defeating the in-state tuition for illegal aliens bill in NC called HB 1183. I am happy that that there are American college students that are actually in college now, instead of being displaced and replaced by illegal aliens, thanks to our efforts here at ALIPAC.

Now, we need to know who Uriel Alberto's employer is and we need to ask the NC Bar to remove the law firm's license to practice and we need a state law to stop them from hiring illegal aliens like Uriel Alberto.

W

Originally Posted by alipac

as the past senior class president of east carolina university 1994-1995, i am very happy that uriel alberto is not stealing one of the limited seats at ecu or any other unc system college. I played a key role in defeating the in-state tuition for illegal aliens bill in nc called hb 1183. I am happy that that there are american college students that are actually in college now, instead of being displaced and replaced by illegal aliens, thanks to our efforts here at alipac.

Now, we need to know who uriel alberto's employer is and we need to ask the nc bar to remove the law firm's license to practice and we need a state law to stop them from hiring illegal aliens like uriel alberto.

W

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great stuff!