Their passion and drive keeps DREAM Act alive
Albor Ruiz - Ny Local

Saturday, July 2nd 2011, 4:00 AM

Its enemies have gleefully announced its demise time and time again, but to paraphrase Mark Twain: Reports of the DREAM Act's death are greatly exaggerated.

Because as long as there are young people willing to risk their own security to reach their goals and make their hopes real, the dream won't die.

Young people such as Felipe de Jesús Baeza, an artist and recent graduate of Cooper Union who is undocumented.

He just returned to New York, his home, after spending two days in the Fulton County, Ga., jail.

Baeza, 24, was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and brought to the U.S. when he was 7.

A good student who speaks flawless English, he is personable and passionate about his future.

Last week, he traveled to Atlanta to take part in an act of civil disobedience in solidarity with undocumented youth from that state.

Baeza was detained on Tuesday with five other young people, all from Georgia.

"I am a New Yorker, but I went to Atlanta because I feel I have a responsibility to support other young people in a situation similar to mine," said Baeza following his release.

The arrests took place after the students attempted to block an intersection near the state Capitol. Charges against him and his fellow students were dropped in exchange for 40 hours of community service.

"In Georgia, the situation is pretty bad. [Undocumented students] are denied an education the same way years ago it was denied to African-Americans. History repeats itself."

The protest is the second of its kind this year in Atlanta, following a similar action on the campus of Georgia State University in April. Protest organizers vow to continue taking action until states stop attempting to persecute undocumented immigrants and the federal government lays out a pathway to legal status.

Recently, Georgia passed an anti-immigrant bill that empowers police officers to act as immigration agents.

In addition, last October, the Board of Regents decided to forbid undocumented youth from attending Georgia's colleges and universities.

"These anti-immigrant laws are inhuman and un-American, and we are not going to sit back and let this happen," Baeza said.

"We're going to fight back because every human being has the right to an education."

Extreme anti-immigration laws are what make passing the DREAM Act so urgent.

The act would open a road to legalization for successful undocumented students or those who enroll in the U.S. armed forces.

It was first introduced in 2001, and has been reintroduced in every congressional session since.

Last year it was close to being passed; after being approved in the House, it was only five votes short from approval in the Senate. The DREAM Act was reintroduced once again in May.

Baeza calls the U.S. his country, but as he proved in Atlanta, he is willing to risk deportation to Mexico in order to raise awareness of the plight of undocumented young immigrants who grew up in the U.S.

"I have reached a point in which I am no longer afraid," said Baeza, expressing the feelings of thousands of DREAM Act students.

"This is my country. I have my life here, I grew up here and I have nothing in Mexico.

"I am willing to fight for the right to contribute my energy and my talent to society."

But for all his passion, after so many years of waiting, Baeza can't help but be skeptical.

"You know, we are tired of empty promises, of waiting, of being smiled at," he said.

"Now we have to fight because if we don't, nobody will."

aruiz@nydailynews.com.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bro ... z1R5kVaNPC