Thread: NC: Illegal aliens on hunger strike- DREAM ACT-ERS

By Sarah Ovaska - Staff writer

RALEIGH -- Three young women who came country as children and are now illegal immigrants are staging a hunger strike in an attempt to convince U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan to back a bill that could make them legal residents.

The women – Rosario Lopez, 25, Viridiana Martinez, 23, and Loida Silva, 22 – have set up tents across the street from the state legislative building in downtown Raleigh and subsisted on water, Pedialtye and Gatorade since June 14.

They have lost 23 pounds collectively and said they're growing weaker by the day but plan on continuing the hunger strike and camping out in the impromptu protest site they've secured near the state Legislature.

"If we don't do it, no one else is going to," Silva said in an earlier interview about the hunger strike. "Our parents broke the law, we didn't have a say in that."

Silva and Martinez arrived with their families when they were children on legitimate travel visas, but overstayed those visas after their families were unable to get permanent residency. Lopez was 13 when she, her mother and two siblings were smuggled across the Mexican border to join their father, who was already living in the Triangle. Lopez said the family was starving because her mother couldn't make enough to feed the family and her father had been injured during his own trip to the United States and unable to work.

They held a press conference this afternoon in front of Hagan's New Bern Avenue office in the federal courthouse.

All three women freely admit they are living in the country illegally and are angry and frustrated at the barriers in the U.S. immigration laws that leave them with slim chances of going on to college or getting jobs other under-the-table work.

The trio are trying to pressure Hagan, North Carolina’s Democratic senator, to sign on to what’s being called the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act). The federal legislation, which has floated around Congress for years, would give children who came to the U.S. illegally a chance to get permanent resident status if they attend college or join the military. It would also open up chances to take out federal student loans and enable them to pay in-state tuition for their home states.

Hagan, who is in Washington today, announced Tuesday afternoon she would not sign on to become a co-sponsor. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is also not backing the bill.

Critics of the bill have said it would be rewarding immigrants who come to the country illegally, encourage more foreign-parents to smuggle their children and would be unfair to those who wait years to come to the country legally.

"It's a slippery slope and for a lot of Americans, it's a Bad Dream Act," said Ron Woodard of NC Listen, an advocacy group pushing for more immigration enforcement. "It's going to encourage more illegal immigration."

For a fuller report on the hunger strike, please check back on www.newsobserver.com or in tomorrow's print edition of The News & Observer.

(To read the DREAM Act (Senate Bill 729), go to Dream Act

Follow the hunger strikers here
sarah.ovaska@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4622

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/22/ ... z0rdu5Vj97

You don't want to know how I feel about this.

Originally Posted by florgal

By Sarah Ovaska - Staff writer

RALEIGH -- Three young women who came country as children and are now illegal immigrants are staging a hunger strike in an attempt to convince U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan to back a bill that could make them legal residents.

The women – Rosario Lopez, 25, Viridiana Martinez, 23, and Loida Silva, 22 – have set up tents across the street from the state legislative building in downtown Raleigh and subsisted on water, Pedialtye and Gatorade since June 14.

Well, if they're illegal in the country, can't they simply be picked up and arrested? When these three pass out from starvation, they will probably be taken to the nearest emergency room for treatment and leave a bill for taxpayers. What toilets are they using while on hunger strike? The ones in the legislative building? IF these three illegals were from ANY other country besides Mexico, would they have been arrested and placed on deportation by now?

since law enforcement knows they are illegal, they should have done their job before now and arrested them and turned them over to ICE for deportation

I will say how I feel, when it comes to their parents, they arnt responsible.

yet, just by nature of being white, I am still respobsible for slavery, even though my family didnt come here until 1976

so, they cant be held responsible for the sins of their fathers, yet, we can be held responsible for the sins of generations back

Originally Posted by sdbrit68

I will say how I feel, when it comes to their parents, they arnt responsible.

yet, just by nature of being white, I am still respobsible for slavery, even though my family didnt come here until 1976

so, they cant be held responsible for the sins of their fathers, yet, we can be held responsible for the sins of generations back

Someone ought to set up a barbque grill near their tent this weekend. If the breeze is right, they might decide the end their hunger strike in a hurry.
Did you know that Mexico has a law which prohibits foreigners from taking part in Mexican politics? That includes hunger strikes to protest Mexican laws.

I would soooooo do it if I lived there

This is why illegal aliens that smuggle their children in to our country or even have anchor babies should be charged with child endangerment or even child abuse.

Just like spoiled crying babies, they will eat when they are hungry enough.

Though, they're adults so it's up to them what they do with their bodies.

I'm beyond caring what they do, because all they do is create havoc, drama, pull strings, bait fights, steal from America, invade America . . .

And everything they do begins and ends with a LIE to cover up what ELSE they're doing against America's laws, and who ELSE they're aiding and abetting to do the same.

There are lessons in life and one is a persons actions has consequences. If parents break the law their children are affected. Hunger strikes may get media attention but can't recall where they achieved their objective.