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STUDENTS ARRESTED at Senator Feinstein’s Office in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA. On May 27th, three strong women staged a sit-in at Senator Feinstein’s office, asking her to champion a stand-alone DREAM Act bill and make it a reality before June 15th.
These youth hope to highlight the urgency of legislative action in Congress, and catalyze mass grassroots mobilization to pass the DREAM Act before June 15th.
Kimberlee – I chose to participate in this sit-in for a number of reasons. First and foremost, to pressure Senator Feinstein to resume her position as a progressive leader of California and push for the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill. Second, I do this for all my undocumented student friends, and their friends and families who contribute to American society but are not allowed to fully participate in the American Dream. They work hard, and excel academically, and then are shut out from using their education in the best way possible. And finally, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr. ” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Jessica- I am doing this because I want to see my friends remain in school. It is extremely hard to see the daily struggles my undocumented friends go through as they struggle to pay for school and the fear of their status. Undocumented students are amazing and highly motivated individuals who deserve the opportunity to a higher education, legalization, and the opportunity for a better life. I am taking part of this civil disobedience because I believe in equality and justice. I want to see my undocumented friends live without fear and have the opportunity to pursue their dreams without any limitations. The DREAM Act will help my friends have a better life . We need to pass the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill.
Kim- Education is a human right , and no one should be denied their education simply because of their status. I fight for the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill for my friends who simply wish to use their diploma. this is for those who are the first in their family to go to college. This is for those who are undocumented and unafraid.
At least 65,000 undocumented immigrant youth graduate from high schools every year, and many of them struggle to attend institutes of higher education and the military. The DREAM Act will grant youth who traveled to the United States before the age of 16 a path to citizenship contingent on continuous presence in the country, good behavior, and the attainment of at least a two-year university degree or a two-year commitment to the armed forces.
I am truly grateful to you three ladies for standing up for students like me. It brings tears to my eyes, to have people sacrifice themselves so I and many others like myself can have a better tomorrow. Thank the Lord for people like you. I appreciate your actions. God bless you.
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Thank you ladies!! you have such courage! you have done what i long to do for a such along time!!
You are helping mine and many other dreams to become a reality!!!!
My god bless you.
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Thank you for your commitment to la causa…always in my prayers.
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Thank you so much for doing this and fighting for the DREAM Act.
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praying everyday for people to stand up for what us right!! Thanks you!!
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I want to thank everyone who is taking action to pass the Dream Act, we have been waiting for so many years. I am specially grateful for those who are taking part in the civil disobedience to help out their undocumented friends by being their voice despite not being direct beneficiaries. We love you! I can’t tell you how much I have prayed that this does pass. My life has been at a standstill, I have to make many sacrifices to attend college(2yrs), I want to work as a phyciatric nurse when the Dream passes, but I never know when that day will be. Despite being married now to a U.S citizen since I have been here illegally since I was 7, Im 25 now, Im unable to adjust status without activating the 10 yr bar, which would separate me from my husband which I cannot bear. The Dream Act is my only hope, my only salvation. God bless you.
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Keep up the good work. La lucha sigue.
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Thank you ladies!! you have such courage! you have done what i long to do for a such along time!!
You are helping mine and many other dreams to become a reality!!!!
My god bless you.
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Kimberlee, Jessica and Kim: Thank you for your incredible gesture of integrity and courage. I am so moved that you each of you would take it upon yourselves to boldly move the Dream forward, though you are outside the provisions of this proposed bill. I’m inspired by your acts of love, and in the same generous spirit we will continue to work, hope and pray to bring our brothers and sisters out from under this oppressive present state.
Edith: Sorry to butt in on you situation, but it puzzles me, because I would think that your marriage to a US citizen would eventually grant you legal status as long your other records are clean too (like no criminal background). Is this not true?
ALL: It gets harder only as we get closer
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People like you girls, make me believe that a better future is rising in opposition to the present tyranny of an unjust society that oppress the poor and bullies the frail. In this dark hour I can hear the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. echoing into our generation:
“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born. “.
“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children.”
You have all my admiration and I am sure that your actions and your names will be remembered as a symbol of courage and real love for your friends.
Rev. Richard Contreras
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dear dreamers, you’ve changed the political reality of this country. you’ve gone to the world stage too.
do not fear these actions are in vain. only the vain ones, the omnipotent ones, and the greedy ones will be remembered as the doormats of a history embodied by you–you contain it and you will govern it and put it to march to the harmony of justice and equality. already, your rewards are abounding to you. already, you’ve erased the shame they impose upon us when we seek to better ourselves by bettering our words, our actions, our knowledge, our application of knowledge. my grandmother was six years old when she, her mother, and her brother and two sisters were given a time and a number to meet the trains which deported them though american born though native to california. let the plight of our undocumented youths be a reminder to us all…when the deportation trains get loaded, it won’t matter where you were born.
only those jealous of your youth, your beauty, your empowerment, your commitment, and your courage
will betray you. it will not be your defeat. your defeat will expose them if they do not go cautiously at decapitating our youth movement today.
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