From http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/29437-not ... ts-at-work


Notes from Underground 1.8 - Helping Immigrants at Work
Posted about 9 hours ago by DREAMActivist

Work was quite surreal today. I received two phone calls on our hotline pertaining to immigration issues, one of them from an "illegal immigrant."

The first one was a phone call from a mother, a desperate plea, to provide legal advice as her children were being taken away from her. Why? Because she is in the country illegally. As I listened to her sobbing on the phone, I couldn't help thinking of my own mother and our situation. And here I was put in a position to provide legal assistance. I managed to hook her up with a pro-bono immigration lawyer to see what they could do about the situation.

Next up was a man who held dual citizenship in both the United States and Bulgaria. Apparently, he had been detained at airports and the DHS had sent him a ridiculous questionnaire pertaining to his dual citizenship. According to the questionnaire, the DHS demanded to know which country this guy held more allegiance to and what he got out of his dual citizenship. He was justifiably angry and upset about this line of questioning. I could not really offer any legal advice since we did not exactly deal with these things unless someone got arrested.

As the day came to a close, I found myself wishing for someone to call, who could listen to my story, hear me advocate for the Dream Act, and offer some advice or support. It is empowering to be in a position to help people struggling with the same broken immigration system, but it is draining at the same time.

Just for a short while, the pleas for help reminded me that we cannot count on tomorrow or the future. I came home and spent some time with my mother, something I had not done in a long time.