For immediate release
Media Contact:
Students
Arrested for their Dreams Now Could Face Deportation
TOMORROW
Oct, 1, 2010: Rally and Press Conference
in
Front of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 500 Indiana
Ave, NW, Wash, DC 2001. at 8AM
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 Alien 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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