12 Student Activists fly accross the Nation for a DREAM

During the past month, Dream Activists have been organizing for a mass mobilization of students from all over the country for three days of action in support of the DREAM Act, which begin today in Washington, D.C.

The other Washington, the state, is sending 12 students from the Washington Dream Act Coalition, which I am a member of, across the country to join their comrades. It has been a big challenge for these students to fund this expensive trip but through the pursue of making their Dreams a reality, they managed to collect the funds they needed to fly to DC. Many hours of reaching out to other organizations for donations and creative fundraisers prove the amount of talent and discipline these students have, some of only 18 years of age like Carlos Padilla, and Carlos Ganz, who coordinated the challenging project.

Organizing for America - Let's Pass the DREAM Act

Two months ago I wrote about my disappointment with Organizing for America (OFA) for not including immigration on their agenda, even after President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Now that the debate on immigration has heated up thanks to the controversial law in Arizona, the upcoming political pressure from the Partnership for a New American Economy, and the recent President's address on immigration, OFA has finally added immigration in their Agenda.

Mayors and CEOs Join the Fight for Immigration Reform

"Our current immigration policy is national suicide. We're organizing to change it," said Mike Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York and owner of Bloomberg LP, the world’s leading financial news and information company.

To address this, Bloomberg has launched the Partnership for a New American Economy, a powerful coalition of mayors and business leaders who will advocate for an overhaul of the nation's immigration policy. The Partnership intends to run a major campaign similar to what Organizing for America (OFA) did during the health care debate, but has failed to do towards fixing our current immigration system.

Video-Blogging a Week of Action With the Trail of Dreams

I was invited by SEIU to Washington, D.C. to support the last phase of the Trail of Dreams, a historical 1,500-mile walk undertaken by four immigrant students from Florida to give the undocumented youth a voice. My trip started with a bang on April 27, since on that day the controversial SB 1070 bill in Arizona was everywhere in the media. Even the 200,000 people in Washington, D.C. on March 21st demanding comprehensive immigration reform didn't get people talking about real reform the way Arizona's action has.

April 27 - Meeting Trail of Dreams Walkers, Walter Lara & SEIU

I headed to the SEIU HQ to meet the Trail of Dreams walkers and Walter Lara, a Dream Act Candidate from Miami who fought deportation and is currently in the country through a deferred action. Though we'd never met in person before, we had an instant connection, since we already knew so much about each other from our stories. It was like re-encountering old friends. I also got to meet up with SEIU staff, including Joaquin Guerra, Josh Bernstein, and Ali Jost, who were big supporters during my campaign to stop my deportation. Walter and I began video-blogging our adventure in D.C.

April 28 - Trail of Dreams Press Conference

On Wednesday, in front of the White House, the Trail of Dreams held a press conference where they reported that, after requesting three months in advance to meet with the President, the Obama Administration had remained completely unresponsive. Listening, I was thinking about how many times President Obama said during his campaign, "Change starts from the bottom and up," and here I was, filming four young leaders who walked 1,500 miles during the past 4 months for a cause they strongly believe in, yet were left without even a response.

Alonso Chehade on Becoming a Promoter of Positive Change

My name is Alonso, and I am alumni of the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. I am also an undocumented student who has been fighting deportation during the past year. I am still in the country thanks to the support of many, including SEIU, who not only supported me during my struggle with immigration, but has also given me the opportunity to be part of the last phase of the Trail of Dreams, an inspiring story of four students who have walked 15,000 miles from Florida to D.C. to give the undocumented youth a voice.

A year ago, on March 15, 2009, I was stopped by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities, charged, arrested, and sent to jail for two weeks. What’s crazy about this is that I was brought by my parents at the age of 14 through a tourist visa, which then the family overstayed, so it wasn’t really my choice to come here and be undocumented. On top of that, the reason my parents had to immigrate through a tourist visa was because doing it through our U.S. Citizen relatives would have taken more than 10 years, which is literally a big slap in the face. We are talking about the hierarchy of needs here and the reason my family decided to move to another country was because of the lack of the physiological part of it in our home country Peru.

Before my incident with immigration I wasn’t too knowledgeable about the immigration system until it hit me hard. I still remember passionately reading a huge book called “Know your rights” while I was in jail, and that was a turning point in my life. The more I learned, the more I knew that I had to get out there and tell the world.

LET'S TRY SOME COMMON SENSE

If somebody asked me about my opinion on immigration and our current system dealing with it, I would say that we are doing a great job; a great job in doing it wrong. We are doing it so wrong that we have a great amount of young students today who say they didn’t know about the immigration laws of the United States when they were kids and innocently let their parents bring them to a new country.

Sure, sure, like I am going to believe that. It is obvious they knew we have the Disney Channel here and didn’t care about the rest.

What type of children in their right mind would forget to read “How to Legally Immigrate to the United States When You Can’t Talk Yet or When Your Opinion Doesn’t Count?”

Now what I don’t understand is why these illegal kids think they’re Americans only because they don’t remember their native countries? Seriously, what part of if you look non-American there is a big chance that you’re not American don’t they understand?

Now last but not least, I understand that some of these kids know they are illegal, which means they shouldn’t be here. Why are they then not leaving their families and going back to their countries? What type of kids are these?

It scares me to see a group of children like these being so irresponsible as to excel in high school and try to infiltrate our higher education system. This is obviously a conspiracy that needs to be stopped now. We cannot allow these bright minds to become educated, become entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, or other professionals. What would happen to all the H1b visa applications for many of these exact positions that we can’t fill? They might be taken by these undocumented students who love the United States and even dare to call it home.

Also there is this non-sense legislation, the “DREAM Act”, which would allow us all to benefit from these talented and determined students. It would allow a path to citizenship to these children, these rebels who let their parents bring them to the United States.

This country was made of immigrants. We need to welcome these students and benefit from their contributions. The DREAM Act is a win/win proposition for all students who work hard. With no current way to legalize themselves, this legislation would pave the way to citizenship for over 1.2 million young people brought here by their parents and give them a voice in the future of our country. I am one of these undocumented college graduates working hard to get the DREAM Act passed.


Dream Positive, Alonso Chehade

When I'm hungry, I eat.

When you are hungry or thirsty, do you eat and drink? When there is a test you need to ace, do you study or do you sit there hoping knowledge will hit you in the face?

Our cause is worthless without a voice. Our voices are worthless without action. I repeat, our voices are worthless without action. We have to act and let our words be heard-- every day, every week, every month, every waking moment until President Obama signs the Dream Act.

I urge you to write to your representatives, governors, and President Obama. Hiding isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's roll up our sleeves and show them what we can do.

Set goals. Act. My goal: for the next seven days, I'm going to write a letter to President Obama telling him about our struggles and what we need from him.

Here's my first letter:

President Obama,

Change. “Change.” To tell you the truth, it is one of my favorite words. Ever since I started following you, I was enamored by the principles on which you stood and your ability to orate about any topic. You were able to pull off the most historic election victory in the history of the United States. You were the change us constituents needed at a time of uncertainty and disillusion.

But what now?

Mr. Obama, no man in this world has the opportunity to change as many lives as you can. You have already made some monumental changes to the system, but that is not enough. That is not enough. Every move you make will write history, and I want to remind you of how many people are dependent on your actions. I’m not talking about the suburban family that will be meekly affected or the business owner who will complain about anything you do, but I am talking about the 65,000 people whose very self-identity is dependent on you. I am talking about the 65,000 people youth who are eligible for the Dream Act.

We have been raised and taught by America. America is the only place we know; we are here to stay. I mean, is there really anywhere where we could go? How could we? We are not Mexican, Salvadorian, South Korean, Ethiopian, Peruvian, or Colombian, we are AMERICAN. And we are as proud as anyone else.

So my question is: what are you going to do for us? We are not looking for a solution to all of our problems, and we are not looking for any sorts of free-passes, but we ARE looking for an opportunity to show our potential, our drive, and our ability to better the only place we know. Don’t punish us for our parent’s mistakes, as we are our own entities, wishing to be able to fully join a society that has swept us under the rug.

I implore your help. This generation can make big changes, and you have to understand our sense of urgency. You can make history. You have the power to enable us to DREAM: go to colleges, get jobs, start families, and live normal American lives. You have the opportunity to give 65,000 people a reason to DREAM. We are not going anywhere, and our hard-work and sacrifices will not be wasted because our mother America refuses to recognize us.

Again, you have the futures of 65,000 people resting on your hands. Will you face the elephant sitting in the room? Or will you provide us with the CHANGE we were looking for? The time is NOW. Give us our DREAMS.

Sincerely,
AGENT AM

While it isn't perfect, it is a start. Remember that our futures depend on the DREAM Act. We have CONTROL of our futures, if we make it so.

Love Always,
AGENT AM