DREAMers respond to Oregon Congressman Greg Walden

Broken Promises, Broken Dreams 
 By DREAMers’ Sara Ramirez and Fernando Dorantes

“We arrived in Washington D.C. on Tuesday around 1 A.M. on a nonstop flight from Oregon --exhausted but equally excited!!! To facilitate our trip, we made and sold over 600 hundred delicious tamales the weekend before we left. We wanted to work and fund our own trip and prove to ourselves that we deserve to be here. After only sleeping a couple of hours, we were up and ready to begin our training with the “Keep Families Together” Summit, and hopefully meet with our Oregon Representative, Greg Walden.

Before coming to D.C., we attempted to make numerous appointments online, but received no response. However, to our surprise at 10 A.M., we actually received a call from his office asking if we wanted to meet with one of his aids at 3:30 P.M. So in a heartbeat, we said “YES!”. We showed up early and to our surprise Congressman Walden himself was there to meet with us.

In the meeting, we shared our personal stories about our families with a straight and honest attitude. His response seemed genuine but vague; giving us hope that an immigration reform was in sight. We left accomplished and proud, only to be deceived by his vote the next day in favor of the “Enforce Act” (HR 4138) which would repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and put myself and other DREAMers at risk for deportation.

Congressman Walden's vote has proven once again that he is unwilling to work with us on immigration reform. He knows we are DREAMers with families that have been broken by immigration; yet he still has the tenacity to raise his hand for the “Enforce Act”. As we reflect on this political “stunt”, we are not afraid to continue the fight against this broken immigration system. Congressman Greg Walden has just added more fuel to our fire and we will make sure there are major repercussions in his district regarding his stance on immigration."

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Obama announces halt to DREAMer Deportation, effective immediately

June 15, 2012

Causa applauds Administration's announcement to defer action against undocumented youth brought to the U.S. as small children

Today, President Obama announced that the policy of prosecutorial discretion—which allows immigration agents to defer deportation of low-risk, non criminal undocumented immigrants—will be expanded to all DREAM eligible youth. This is a huge win for the immigration reform movement, and comes as a result of years of tireless mobilization and agitation by DREAMers, undocumented immigrants, and immigrants’ rights activists and politicians.

The expansion in policy means that effective today, there will be an immediate halt to all deportation proceedings for DREAMers, and all DREAMers who are already in deportation proceedings will get deferred action (lasting two years) and work permits, if they meet eligibility. Any DREAMer who meets the criteria can come forward and apply for deferred action and a work permit, as well.

“Today’s announcement from the Obama Administration is great for every taxpayer in America” said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director, Causa Oregon. “Instead of wasting precious taxpayer dollars and resources on rounding up students and young people who did nothing wrong, instead of wasting tax dollars on lawyers persecuting us, instead taking away our freedom by locking us up, and condemning us to deportation - the government and every American taxpayer can now benefit when we start jobs or businesses, and become hardworking, taxpaying, full participants in America's economic recovery."

Lopez added, "While this is an exciting moment and a great first step for the immigration reform movement and a product of the hard work of students, immigrant rights groups, organized labor, faith and community leaders, it is not an ultimate victory. This policy expansion still does not provide a path to citizenship for DREAMers and there is still a dire need for a national DREAM Act." 

Here are some of the details of the new policy:

To be eligible you must

• Be between 15 years or older and 30 years or younger may apply

• Be in US for at least 5 (as of today, 6/15/12)

• Have to have maintained continuous residence (relatively flexible interpretation)

There are no restriction on when you can apply (i.e. no window that closes after a year, for example)

Grants of Deferred Application are for 2 years and are renewable

Criminal Ineligibility: If you have been convicted of a felony, a serious misdemeanor or three minor misdemeanors not all stemming from same incident, then you are not eligible.

It is estimated that as a result of this policy extension, nearly 1 million DREAMers will be spared from deportation. This is truly an exciting day

Click here to thank the White House for keeping their promise to provide administrative relief.

Press Release from DHS on the announcement

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DHS to suspend deportation of DREAMers, others

A BIG VICTORY FOR OUR MOVEMENT! 
DHS to suspend deportation of DREAMers, others

We are pleased to pass on the great news that all of our collective phone calls, faxes, emails, letters, marching and rallying have paid off.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security and officials from the Obama Administration announced that they will be suspending deportations of individuals who fit low-priority categories as outlined in Prosecutorial Discretion memos released in June. Those who fit the “low-priority” category include DREAMers – or individuals who were brought here as children, pregnant women, elderly, disabled, veterans, and long-term Permanent Residents, PROVIDED they do not have felony convictions. Those that do fit the “low-priority” category will be allowed to apply for a work visa.

“Today’s announcement shows that this president is willing to put muscle behind his words and to use his power to intervene when the lives of good people are being ruined by bad laws.” - Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois Democrat.

This change in policy will only affect non-citizens who are in deportation proceedings and will not apply to individuals who are not currently in removal proceedings. In fact, DHS has not even established any mechanism for individuals to be considered under this process if they are not already in the process of being deported 

As President Obama has deported nearly one million people in just two years, we remain cautiously optimistic about today's announcement and hope that these policies are implemented quickly and as promised.  Only with these new policies changes can we see families spared the horrors of being forcibly torn apart.

After all of our hard work, we finally have a BIG VICTORY we can celebrate together. We still have much more difficult work to do like continuing the pressure on the Administration to end the fatally flawed and destructive “Secure Communities” Program and pushing Congress forward on reforming our broken immigration system.

To continue this momentum, we need your help.  As CAUSA’s work is only as strong as the community that supports us, please take a moment and help us ensure that we will see an end to harmful policies that tear families apart and hurt our communities.

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