Fri, 2010-09-17 18:11 — jmcabrera
DREAM Act supporters staging full-court press for upcoming vote

September 16, 2010 | 7:05 PM | By Leslie Berestein Rojas



DREAM Act supporter Sophia Sandoval calls members of the Senate from her iPhone at a makeshift phone bank in Westlake, September 16, 2010

A dozen or so young DREAM Act supporters sat in a cramped room in the Westlake district this afternoon, using every available phone line as they scrolled down lists of phone numbers for U.S. senators. When there weren’t enough land lines, they used their cell phones.

With a Senate vote coming up next week on the DREAM Act, proposed legislation that would provide a path to legal status for undocumented youths who attend college or join the military, the students manning a makeshift phone bank at the UCLA Labor Center by McArthur Park had no time to waste.

“This is really going to define an entire generation in what we are able to generate for the economy,â€