Despite what President Obama tells us about stopping the deportation of certain people we know it isn’t true, we know every day people are being deported and nothing has changed.  We need to demand an immediate end to Secure Communities.

Please join the students virtually via live-stream: http://bit.ly/laicelive

You can also support the youth by making a donation, we don’t know yet if they are going to have a bail set but it is always nice to be on the safe side:

MEET THE STUDENTS:

Stephanie Hernandez was 9 years old when she came to the U.S. Excessively bullied in school and soon realizing she was different, she didn’t understand the impact of her status until her peers began discussing going to college. Upon graduation, she was forced to watch them begin new journeys while faced with the reality of her status. A student at San Bernardino Valley College since 2008, Stephanie hopes to become a police officer and eventually a homicide detective. Stephanie feels Secure Communities makes her community more insecure and unsafe, disproportionately targeting immigrant families and tearing them apart. Her younger siblings have been raised to fear the police, and that same fear has caused her to suffer in silence as a victim of crime herself. Inspired by the action of seven undocumented youth fighting back against Secure Communities on her campus last month, she wants to stand as an example that youth are better coming out about their status than staying in the shadows. Those without support are the ones who instantly disappear at the hands of ICE. “Young people have a lot of power, and we shouldn’t wait until someone close to us is about to get deported; we have to take action now.”

Ruben Barrera was brought to America at the age of one from Baja California. Growing up in the heart of Los Angeles, he saw a community that was economically challenged and struggling to prioritize the education of its children. “Being born in a different country has shaped who I am and never in my life will I regret where I came from.” A student at Edward Roybal LC, Ruben’s experiences only give him courage to continue his education, and he will never stop until he reaches his goal of becoming the first member of his family to attend a 4-year university. Last Wednesday, Ruben and his brother Isaac were pulled over in a traffic stop, and Isaac was arrested. He was put on an ICE hold and soon became a victim of the Secure Communities program. Ruben comes from a community where most people are undocumented, in which many families like his are victims of unjust programs like Secure Communities and 287g. By becoming active, he hopes to empower undocumented people in general to come out and take a stand against injustice. Ruben is tired of being afraid, and wants to show undocumented people that they are not alone in their fight against criminalization.

Alma de Jesus was brought to the U.S. at the age of 7 to be reunited with her parents, whom she had not seen in a year. Mastering English, she excelled in school, but was hit with the limits her status would place on her during her senior year in high school. Still she persevered, earning a Bachelor’s degree in History from Cal State University Northridge. She is now a proud mother of two, breaking stereotypes by completing her education, paying taxes and raising her children without the use of social services. Yet she dreams of being able to provide a better future for her children, one in which they are not discriminated against due to their background or the color of their skin. Alma has remained in the shadows for 21 years, and she feels that it is time to come out and make herself visible. The injustices faced by undocumented youth far outweigh the risk of taking a stand. She refuses to let her future be jeopardized any longer.

Luis Serrano came to America in the fall of 1995 to be reunited with his parents in Los Angeles. He grew up and attended school in San Fernando Valley, quickly adjusting to his new surroundings. After his parents’ divorce when he was 16, Luis quickly became financially responsible for himself, working multiple odd jobs and sleeping on friends’ couches, occasionally finding himself with no roof over his head. During this time, after much reflection, he decided to take his future back into his own hands. Luis returned to school for his GED, worked, and is now a student at Los Angeles Valley College. Luis feels Secure Communities is an underground threat to his community. Many people are not aware of it; most community members feel like being transferred to ICE even for a driving ticket is just part of the norm for immigrants and not an abuse of the system. Luis hopes that his story will reach youth who have felt alienated by not reaching the established standard set for undocumented youth. He is taking action to let them know that they can make a change; it starts with one person and it will pass on to someone else, just as it was passed on to him.

Miriam Vasquez began her life in the U.S. as a pre-schooler. Her entire grade school upbringing, from then through high school, took place in Los Angeles. Aware of her status, the experiences of her senior year in high school brought Miriam face to face with the struggles and effects of being undocumented. She felt her hopes and goals slip through her fingers as she filled out her first college application, unable to reconcile why her dreams for the future were deemed not as worthy as those of her peers. A month ago, Miriam’s sister Martha, also undocumented, was arrested while taking a stand against 287g and Secure Communities at San Bernardino Valley College. She knows that the continuation of Secure Communities will criminalize many innocent people, which is why it must be stopped. Inspired by the courage and risks taken by those seven youth, Miriam feels that she must take a stand against injustice, for herself, her sister, their family and their community. Currently attending Pasadena City College, Miriam feels the time is now, and she is committed to fight for the sake of her rights and her future.

We need your help! We need $3,600 to bail the DREAMers out of jail.  Donate at least $25 if you can.

The six participated in this action because they wanted other undocumented youth in Georgia and all across the country to know that they should not be afraid.  Undocumented youth should not be afraid of racist legislators who want to pass anti-immigrant laws, instead you should come out and face them.  Show them you are no longer afraid of them and that you will fight for what is yours.  That is the message of the “Georgia 6″ and other undocumented youth who are Undocumented and Unafraid!  Despite their courage they can’t do this without you, now we need your help to bail the remaining three out of jail.

Dulce would be attending Georgia State University this fall but because undocumented youth are barred from attending any of Georgia’s top 5 universities she cannot attend.  These are the types of injustice the six are fighting against, please support them as they fight this struggle and represent all of us. They have a bond of $3,600. We need 150 people to donate $25 each so we can get the seven out of jail.

The faster we can raise the money the sooner we can get them out.

6 Undocumented Youth Arrested at Capitol Demanding Change in Immigration Policies

Local high school students arrested while protesting near the State Capitol

(Atlanta, GA) – Six undocumented students have been arrested in after an act of civil disobedience near the state capitol building. The youth aimed to take a stand against HB 87, a recently passed law modeled after Arizona’s SB1070 that would severely restrict and isolate the immigrant community within the state.

“It is time for undocumented youth across the South to come out and fight against injustice,” said Dulce Guerrero, one of the students participating in the action. “My dreams and my family are under attack.”

Dulce Guerrero, 18; Jessica Vasquez, 18; Rolando Zenteno, 16; Nataly Ibarra, 16; Felipe Baeza, 24; and Leeidy Solis, 16; have all been arrested by capitol police. All are current high school students except for Guerrero, who graduated earlier this month, and Baeza, who received his Bachelor’s degree from The Cooper Union in New York in 2009. All are Georgia residents except for Baeza, who lives in New York.

The protest is the second of its kind this year in Atlanta, following a similar action which took place on the campus of Georgia State University in April. The arrests took place after the students attempted to block an intersection nearby the State Capitol. 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.

Acts of resistance like the one today are part of a rising trend in undocumented youth using direct action to advocate for themselves and their families. As undocumented youth grow impatient with Washington games and increased criminalization, we will continue to step out of the shadows and into the streets.

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The DREAM is Coming project is a collaboration between multiple organizations, including the New York State Youth Leadership Council, the Immigrant Youth Justice League, ONE Michigan, the North Carolina DREAM Team, the Orange County Dream Team, University Leadership Initiative of Texas, DreamActivist Virginia, and DREAMActivist.org.

Jessica Vasquez came to the United States when she was 10 years old to be reunited with her mother, and is now 18. Growing up in Georgia, Jessica worked hard in school, earning awards and honors. In high school, she came to the realization that her future would be drastically different than those of her peers because she was undocumented. Searching for help, Jessica found other youth who were organizing in her community, and knew she was not alone. Tired of waiting for change and being banned from pursuing her dreams, Jessica is taking a stand for herself and for other undocumented youth who may be living in fear.

Rolando Zenteno was brought to the U.S. at the age of 7, following his parents’ pursuit of a better life. His family came with no material possessions, but with plenty of ambition. Now 16, he considers Georgia to be his home, having made many memories and friends there. Yet he feels ostracized by the same state that has been made him who he is today, a state that is now denying him attendance to its top universities. Rolando would rather take action than sit back and wait, and is asking other undocumented youth to do the same.

Nataly Ibarra was 5 years old when she was brought to the U.S., and is now 16. Her parents wanted her to have a brighter future, and growing up, she felt no different from other kids. Once she realized she wouldn’t be able to get a driver’s license or a job like her peers, she began to come to terms with being undocumented. Meeting other youth of the Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, she saw that she was not alone in her struggle. Coming from a mixed status family, she wants to use her unique perspective to give a face and voice to the undocumented youth community, in the hopes of enabling more youth to share their stories.

Felipe Baeza came to the U.S. when he was 8 years old, and has been undocumented for 15 years. Overcoming many obstacles, he obtained his Bachelor’s degree from The Cooper Union in New York in 2009. Now 24 years old, Felipe is tired of waiting, is tired of other people having control over his own future. He stands in solidarity with undocumented youth in Georgia because an attack on undocumented youth there is an attack on undocumented youth everywhere. He asks other youth to come out, to join him in making their collective voices heard.

Leeidy Solis was 2 years old when she came to the U.S, and is now 16 years old. In high school, she felt angry once she realized that she wasn’t able or even allowed to do many of the same things she saw her peers experience. Education is Leeidy’s first priority. She will soon be a high school senior, and is intent on achieving her goal of being the first in her family to graduate from college. Tired of injustice, Leeidy started a youth group– Ambitious For Equal Rights –at her high school to show other youth that they have the power to speak for themselves. She feels there is no need to wait any longer, paralyzed by fear.

These two bills would not only deny an education to undocumented youth, but also criminalize the immigrant community. Unless Gov. Daniels vetoes the bills both will go into law this week.

Right now, all five -Lupe, Erick, Sayra, Omar and Ana Paola- are sitting in a jail on a hunger strike refusing to leave until Gov. Daniels vetoes both bills.

TAKE ACTION

1.  Make a call to the Governor demanding he VETO the bills!

“Hi I am calling to ask that, instead of arresting undocumented youth, Gov. Daniels should VETO HB1402 and SB590. Thank you.”

Phone: 317-232-4567 Fax: (317) 233-3378

2.  Sign the petition here: http://bit.ly/vetoindiana

3.  Spread the word on facebook:

UPDATE: Arrested DREAMers are on hunger strike behind bars asking Gov. Daniels to Veto the bills: Take Action: http://bit.ly/vetoindiana

Meet the five arrested students:

Ana Paola
Lupe
Sayra
Omar
Erick

Released – The Seven Undocumented Youth Arrested on Tuesday Speak Out: ICE Interviews

Georgia State University Continues With Ban on Undocumented Youth

Atlanta, GA- On Wednesday, just a day after being arrested for staging a sit-in on GSU’s campus, seven undocumented youth were released from lockup at the Atlanta Corrections Detention Center. Their ask today remains the same as Tuesday, to have President Becker take a stand and refuse to comply with the ban on higher education (www.bit.ly/nogaban).

“We took part in this action to convey to GSU President Becker and others that we will no longer stay in the shadows. We had a simple request of the President; do not comply with the ban on undocumented youth. Instead of hearing us out, when trying to deliver a letter [on Tuesday], the door was almost shut on us,” said Georgina Perez, one of the action participants. “In a country were hard work is rewarded we should encourage all students to pursue their education regardless of their immigration status…not arrest them at the risk of deportation.”

The seven, David Ramirez, Andrea Rosales, Viridiana Martinez, Jose Rico Benavides, Dayanna Rebolledo and Maria Marroquin, say that upon entry into the jail they were immediately interviewed by two ICE agents, “As soon as we got here they came in, asked us personal questions like where we were born and our birthdays. We were honest with them, we told them we were undocumented.” Despite being open about their legal status ICE chose not to get involved. All seven were released without an ICE hold, a process usually undertaken when Undocumented individuals are stopped on traffic violations. Viridiana went on to say “we definitely felt privileged, not everyone who is undocumented is treated the way we were. We are not sure why we were not detained.”

The youth, as part of www.TheDreamIsComing.com project, plan to continue to organize and empower other undocumented youth to take action. A press conference with all the students who were arrested will be held today at 11am.

Who: 7 Undocumented Youth Arrested after sit-in Tuesday

What: Press Conference: Call to Action

When: Tuesday, April 7th at 11:00am

Where: Hurt Park, corner of Gilmer Street SE & Courtland Street SE

They returned to the crowd chanting, yelling into a megaphone, and continued to lead the march through GSU. As one of the campuses which will close its doors to undocumented youth in the fall, nothing could be more important than such a visual showing of discontent. At what would be the end of the march, the eight young people took to the street among the crowd, blocked traffic and once again declared that they were “undocumented and unafraid.”

The police took them after an hour of blocking the street–they are now sitting in an Atlanta jail. Despite the reports that the area does not have an agreement with ICE the jail does work with ICE.

Sign the petition to tell the presidents of GSU and the four other public universities to refuse the ban.

For the past year we, as an immigrant rights community, have been on the defensive fighting back against legislation harming our communities.  We have seen an unimaginable rise in deportations and enforcement efforts. Our “allies” in the Whitehouse have done nothing but encourage the behavior and, as a movement, we have yet to respond. At some point we have to realize that you do not kill an anti-immigrant bill by just having more rallies at which undocumented immigrants are shunned from even speaking.

As immigrant youth we have been feeling the tension for too long, we have been struggling to have a voice and, over the course of the last year, we have been finding that voice.  Many of us in this movement are at a place where we recognize the fear that ICE tries to hold over us.  We recognize that we can be detained and deported any day for doing nothing more than making a ‘wide right turn.’  We are tired of being scared, of having to censor ourselves in how we organize because “ICE might get you.”

Today 8 undocumented are challenging just that; Maria, Dulce, David, Andrea, Georgina, Viridiana, Jose Rico and Dayanna are in Georgia to take a stand.  They will be occupying a portion of Georgia State University to send a strong message that education is a fundamental human right.  They will be risking not only arrest, but also detention by ICE.

We want to send a very loud and clear message. As undocumented youth, we are no longer afraid. We will no longer allow for anyone to hold anything over us.  We will take action.  We will come out.  We will take risks.  We will intentionally put ourselves into deportation proceedings.  All in an effort to show you that there is nothing that can stop us from gaining our freedoms, the same freedoms we learned about as school-kids growing up in this countries classrooms.

It is time for you, as an individual and as a nation, to take a side, to decide if you will continue to support the deportation of our talents, or will you embrace us and help us make America a stronger nation.

As undocumented youth it is our responsibility to recognize the privilege we have and to take action.  Remaining silent and in the shadows is no longer an option.  We have tried that for 10 years and look where it has gotten us.  It is our responsibility to speak out for those in our communities who can’t.  It is our responsibility to challenge ICE on their terms and show them they have nothing to hold over our heads.

Today, you need to take action too (www.action.dreamactivist.org/georgiaban/), pick up your phone and place a simple phone call.  Call whoever you want, your legislator, your admissions office, your counselor, anyone who feels they can control how you live your life, and leave a simple message for them: “My name is ____.  I am undocumented and no longer afraid and I will hold you accountable. Bye.”

It is going to be long, dangerous, empowering, challenging and exciting road ahead, but together we can pull through it.  Will you join us?

Mohammad Abdollahi
co-founder of DreamActivist.org

P.S.  On twitter / facebook? Update your status message with: “Today 8 undocumented youth occupy GA State Univ, risking arrest and deportation www.bit.ly/nogaban #refuseban Will you stand with them?”

They come from Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois—states which have taken different political stances toward immigrants. Despite the fact that the political realities vary, a threat to immigrant youth anywhere is a threat to immigrant youth everywhere.

While Illinois might see a state version of the DREAM Act in the near future, undocumented youth there still deal with a sense of hopelessness when they seek work and try to enjoy their lives. In southern states like Georgia and North Carolina, state legislatures are moving to segregate their college system by closing their doors to undocumented youth. Here in Georgia, where undocumented youth have already been banned from its top tier universities, may soon be banned from attending college anywhere in the state.

Last year, the campaign for the DREAM Act ended in defeat. Politicians’ ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ never became a call to action; instead, it became an excuse for inaction. Now the young people whose lives hang in the balance have chosen to stop thinking like a campaign and have chosen to act like a movement.
These are the names you need to know: Georgina Perez, David Ramirez, Andrea Rosales, Viridiana Martinez, Jose Rico Benavides, Dayanna Rebolledo, Maria Marroquin, and Dulce Guerrero. These young people have chosen to fight for their dignity, for their families’ dignity—and if you are undocumented, they have done it in hopes to inspire you to fight for your dignity.
Sign the petition.

In a Democratically controlled House, Senate and White House, Democrats failed to pass the DREAM Act. Because of their cowardice, immigrant youth in Georgia, North Carolina and other southern states are facing the possibility of losing their education rights.

Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court case which allows undocumented youth to attend public schools, states in its decision that “whatever savings might be achieved by denying these children an education, they are wholly insubstantial in light of the costs involved to these children, the State, and the Nation.” The costs of not educating them were surely higher. And they are—not only in financial terms, but in the costs to undocumented youth who struggle with hopelessness, depression, shame, fear or suicide.

You have a voice and it’s time to use it. Waiting for someone to solve this problem is no longer an option. It is time to speak out in public without fear and without apologies.
What problem has ever been solved by denying students an education?

In Georgia, the presidents of the state’s most selective universities must refuse the ban on undocumented immigrants. They have to take a stand against this injustice. The state’s politicians must stop trying to push undocumented youth into the shadows. At the federal level, Congress needs to do its job and create a pathway to legalization.

Stand with these brave eight undocumented youth—more importantly, stand up for yourself. It’s time to take action.
Sign the petition.

Students Arrested for their Dreams now Face Deportation

Washington, D.C. On October 1st, eight young American immigrants- among them aspiring social workers, professors, lawyers, and engineers- will walk into a courtroom to answer for having sacrificed everything to fight for their rights. For the first time in American history, undocumented immigrants will be representing themselves in a court of law after having intentionally risked their lives in this country.

Reyna Wences from Illinois, Dulce Matuz from Arizona, Myrna Orozco from Missouri, Tania Unzueta from Illinois, Erika Andiola from Arizona, Nicolas Gonzales from Illinois, Laura Lopez from California, and Isabel Castillo from Virginia are charged with unlawful entry based on a mass sit-in on Capitol Hill on July 20th. These eight DREAM-eligible youth sat in the offices of Senator John McCain and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking them to champion the DREAM Act as a stand-alone bill.

On September 21st, the Senate attempted to reach cloture on the Defense Authorization Bill with the intent of then attaching the DREAM Act as an amendment. However, debate over the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell dominated the debate in the Senate and they did not reach cloture, leaving the DREAM Act in limbo, and with it, the last hope for these eight young Americans.

Given the ineffectiveness of the Senate, they now face the prospect of being convicted and, pursuant to current law, imprisoned or deported, unless immediate congressional action is taken to pass the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education of American Minors). Whether they are found guilty or innocent, ICE is within its jurisdiction to put these youth in deportation proceedings.

At least 70,000 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.

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