Thread: Young Immigrants Plan to Protest Tuesday in Charlotte

Young Immigrants Plan to Protest Tuesday in Charlotte
myfox8.com
The Winston-Salem Journal
10:01 a.m. EDT, September 5, 2011

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (The Winston-Salem Journal)—
Illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children plan to risk arrest and deportation at a rally Tuesday in Charlotte to protest what they believe are unfair laws that prevent them from correcting their immigration status and make it harder to get an education.

Moises Serrano, a Yadkinville resident who graduated with honors from Starmount High School in Boonville, said he and others from the area plan to attend the rally because their options are running out.

"I'm a great worker, but because of my status I can't take advantage of that. I can't get a job. I can't go to school because I can't afford out-of-state tuition. I can't drive down the road to my friend's house because I'm scared I might get pulled over. It's like living in fear 24/7," said Serrano, 21, who was brought to the U.S. by his parents before he was 2.

Serrano and others call themselves "dreamers" after legislation in Congress known as the DREAM Act, which would give a pathway to legal status to young, educated illegal immigrants without criminal records.

Legislators who oppose the DREAM Act say creating a pathway to legal status is tantamount to amnesty and would encourage more illegal immigration. They say these immigrants must return to their country of origin and wait in line like anyone else who wants to enter the U.S. legally.

Because Charlotte is in a county that is part of a federal program known as 287(g), which allows local enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, Serrano is aware that attending the rally comes with the risk of arrest and deportation.

But he and other illegal immigrants in his grass-roots advocacy group El Cambio say they are willing to take that risk because they believe they are being forced to live in the shadows, unable to do such things as get a license or work permit or pay in-state tuition.

Rally organizer Domenic Powell, a founding member of the advocacy group N.C. Dream Team, said high school- and college-age youths will publicly declare their immigration status in what he referred to as a "coming out" rally, culminating with a march at Central Piedmont Community College.

"All that is being asked for is a pathway for young people to correct their status," Powell said. "These people are not criminals. They're being made criminals."

On Facebook, information about the rally has been listed under "North Carolina: We Will No Longer Remain in the Shadows!" As of Saturday evening, nearly 200 people said they would attend.

The rally is scheduled to fall on the same day as the kickoff for the Democratic National Convention, which starts at 10 a.m. at the Time Warner Cable Arena. And the rally caps off a summer marked by a public shift by the Obama administration in the way deportation proceedings are carried out.

President Barack Obama -- backing a directive that had been spelled out in June by John Morton, the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and in August by Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security -- said immigration authorities would put a higher priority on deportation proceedings involving immigrants with criminal records.

Under the directive, immigrants with no criminal record would be given lower priority and possibly could have their cases closed. Being in the U.S. without authorization is a civil offense, not a criminal offense.

The priority shift, administration officials said, would better use limited resources. The shift also comes after years of criticism that immigration authorities actually weaken national security by putting energy into noncriminal immigrants at the expense of pursuing those with criminal records.

In the current federal fiscal year through early July, the number of noncriminal immigrants removed by ICE nearly equals the number of immigrants with a criminal record. ICE has removed 289,386 immigrants during the fiscal year, which started in October. Of that number, 148,182 were convicted criminals and 141,204 had noncriminal cases, according to ICE.

The 'Dream'

The N.C. Dream Team is working with its umbrella organization, the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, which is made up of a network of grass-roots immigrant-advocacy organizations, Powell said, to bring in immigrants from as far as Georgia, New York and Ohio.

Their broader goal is to bring attention to what they believe is the plight of young, educated immigrants in North Carolina who were raised in the U.S., know little of their native country and risk being deported even though they had no part in the decision to move to the U.S. The specific goal is to protest the requirement that they pay out-of-state tuition and register for classes after all other students register.

Those obstacles would be alleviated under the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, commonly known as the DREAM Act.

It would give young immigrants such as Serrano a pathway to legal status, under certain conditions. Among them, the immigrant must have a clean record, must have been 15 or younger upon arriving in the U.S., must have lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years, must earn a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma and go to college or join the military.

There are more than 2 million immigrants in the U.S. who would be eligible for the DREAM Act, according to a 2010 report by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington. The largest segment -- 553,000 -- lives in California. In North Carolina, there are about 51,000, or about 0.5 percent of the state's 9.5 million residents.

The U.S. House version of the DREAM Act, known as H.R. 1842, was introduced in May by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and has 47 co-sponsors. The U.S. Senate version, known as S. 952, was introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and has 34 co-sponsors. Neither version of the bill has a co-sponsor from North Carolina.

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Young Immigrants To Rally At NC Community College



Charlotte, NC -- Illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children plan to risk arrest and deportation at a rally in Charlotte where they'll protest laws that make it harder for them to get an education.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the rally will be held Tuesday at Central Piedmont Community College.

Rally organizer Domenic Powell says high school- and college-age youths will publicly declare their immigration status in what he referred to as a "coming out" rally, culminating with a march at the college.

The students call themselves "dreamers" after legislation in Congress known as the DREAM Act, which would give a pathway to legal status to young, educated illegal immigrants without criminal records.


http://www.digtriad.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=189876