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By Félix Pérez, Education Votes

Gaby Pacheco is a tireless advocate for DREAMers. She’s testified before the U.S. Senate, was profiled by Time magazine, walked 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C., and has been interviewed on more news programs and by more newspaper reporters than she can remember.

But when all is said and done, she gives credit to educators for whatever she’s been able to accomplish.

“I’m here because of you,” Pacheco told educators from across the nation gathered in Washington this Saturday.

“I’m here because I had great and amazing educators and school personnel, counselors and coaches who loved me and cared for me and educated me. I’m here because of great public schools.”

Pacheco, like the 60,000 DREAMers who graduate from U.S. high schools every year, had no say in the matter when she was brought to the United Sates by her parents as a young child. Her life and her aspirations are uniquely American. Pacheco earned a degree in special education and fulfilled her teaching internship at Florida’s Miami Senior High School.

Arizona math teacher Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, said educators are “on the side of the angels” when it comes to immigration reform. “Compassion compels us to act.”

Van Roekel continued:

We call them DREAMers because they’re aspiring young Americans who dream the American Dream. They are valedictorians, honor students, idealistic, hard-working. They are our students and former students, and given a chance they will be our future.

Educators and DREAMers nationwide contributed to history when the first comprehensive immigration reform legislation in more than 25 years was introduced in the Senate three weeks ago.

The “Gang of Eight” bill confers special status on DREAMers and prioritizes family unification. Titled the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, the bill:

• Provides a five-year path to citizenship for DREAMers who arrived in the United Sates before the age of 16 and have completed high school or earned a GED.
• Retains the ineligible status of DREAMers, until they are citizens, from all forms of federal financial aid and means-tested public benefits, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy families and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Emphasizes family unification and increased training, personnel and resources for immigration courts.
• Stipulates that individuals in the United States prior to December 31, 2011, will have a 13-year pathway to citizenship provided they pass a background check, show a grasp of basic English, and pay any assessed tax liability, fees and a $500 fine.

This Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee begins a weeks-long process of debating and amending the bipartisan Gang of Eight bill. A bill has yet to be introduced in the House.

Van Roekel and Pacheco commended the Gang of Eight for bringing the bill forward. The critical step now, said Van Roekel, is that “the politicians have to hear from their constituents” repeatedly as the legislative process unfolds into the summer.

Related Articles:

Los Angeles Times: ‘A student with promise, a teacher who had to help’

Colleges, universities join immigration reform movement for DREAMer students

This article was first published in NEA Today.

Félix Perez is Senior Poltiical Writer at NEA.

[Photo by DREAMCoalition]

By Anthony Cotton, Denver Post

Marking the end of a decade-long effort to provide in-state tuition rates to Colorado college students in the U.S. illegally, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 33, also known as the ASSET bill, into law on Monday.

“Now you have to do the work,” Hickenlooper told the many students among the hundreds of people attending the event at Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Student Success Center.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Roy Lee B.]

By Lily Eskelsen, Lily’s Blackboard

Wednesday I will stand on the West Lawn of our nation’s capitol with thousands of others and demand that a dream come true.

Congress isn’t Disneyland and I am not wishing on a star for Tinker Bell to wave a magic wand. It’s not that kind of dream.

Real dreams aren’t about magic. They’re about work and sacrifice and never giving up. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that his children would live in a world that judged them by the content of their character and not the color of their skin; That there would be a place for them in the country that they loved that simply offered them the same equal opportunity, as anybody else, to live their lives as far as their talents and hard work and luck would take them.

It is not by accident that the immigration movement is defined by the word “dream”. Decades of a hopeless immigration system that defies logic and which has left entire communities frightened, confused, with mothers separated from children and families often the victims of unscrupulous people who cheat vulnerable people into paying their life’s savings to navigate the quagmire of an undecipherable bureaucracy only to find they have lost every dime and no promised papers to show for it.

It’s broken. It’s time to fix it.

The impact of this broken system on our students can be seen in their eyes. Andwe are teachers. We look into those eyes.

Monserrat Garibay is an NEA member and a preschool teacher from Austin, Texas. When she was a child, she came to the United States with her parents but without her documentation. She was what we call a Dreamer – people who dream of becoming a citizen the United States, but because of decisions that were made for them as a child, are ineligible. Monserrat returned to Mexico, studied hard and was able to finally return and become a citizen. Many Dreamers do not have that option. Monserrat understands the fear and the hope.

One of her preschoolers, a four year old boy full of laughter and stories and hugs, tells her about his day and his family and what he wants to be when he grows up. He’s a marvel of Show-N-Tell. But he also tells her about his fears. He tells his teacher about being afraid that his parents will be caught up in an immigration raid where they work.

He knows that sometimes when kids come home, the parents have been taken away and they come home to an empty house. He told her that his little brother is lucky that he was born here. He said, “My little brother is a gringo, so at least there’s one in my family they can’t take away.”

High school Spanish teacher Scott Ellingson says his students can’t wait any longer for comprehensive immigration reform.

There is something broken when a four-year-old little boy is afraid of being separated from his mom and dad and baby brother. Educators will be on the West Lawn of our nation’s capitol because America is all about powerful dreams and relentless dreamers. And because we love our students and will fight for their futures. We have a dream, yes. But real dreams carry a responsibility to fight for those dreams to become reality.

If you can come to the Rally on the Capitol lawn on April 10th, come and show your support. If you can’t come, show your support by signing our petitionsupporting commonsense immigration reform or participating in an echo event in your community.

Wishing won’t make it happen. You will.

Ya es hora. It’s time.

This article was first published in Lily’s Blackboard.

Lily Eskelsen, an elementary teacher from Utah, is Vice President of the National Education Association. She is one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country and one of its most influential Hispanic educators.

[Photo by Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights]

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By Brenda Álvarez, NEA Today

When it comes to innovations in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, the United States has had, over the past two centuries, the good fortune to be able to tap the brain power of its citizens—both native born and those who have immigrated here. Their invaluable contributions have sharpened America’s innovative edge to a fine point.

And although the United States is recognized as a global technological leader, there is heavy competition from other countries.

Every generation needs an infusion of fresh talent to take on those jobs that contribute to pushing the envelope of progress and innovation. The challenge for the United States is that there are more STEM jobs than there are qualified applicants.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates there will be 2.7 million new jobs expected in STEM sectors by 2018.  But the number of students graduating from related fields is nowhere near what it should be.

What will it take to meet America’s requirements for preparing students and professionals to enter the STEM pipeline?

The STEM potential of Latinos

The publishers of LATINO magazine, along with the National Education Association, believe the answer is two-fold: Encouraging Latino students to enter STEM fields and preparing more educators to teach STEM subjects.

Latinos in America represent one in four students in the public school system.  According to the latest statistics, meeting the country’s science and math needs for the next 10 years will require 100,000 more engineers per year. Some simple math reveals that America should see 25,000 more Latino engineers represented in that figure.

To explore the possibilities for inviting greater Latino participation in STEM fields, LATINO magazine convened a conference in Washington, D.C.

The “Nuestro Futuro, the 2012 Latino Education Conference on STEM,” spotlighted a panel called “It Starts in the Classroom.” The panel centered on ensuring great public schools for every student through social justice advocacy, and NEA was front and center of this conversation.

So what does social justice advocacy have in common with the largest labor union in the country? It has been at the Association’s core since it was founded.

Nearly 100 years before the Civil Rights movement, Robert Campbell, an African American teacher from Philadelphia, was one of 43 educators who established what is now the NEA. The Association also elected its first woman president, Ella Flagg Young, decades before American women were give the right to vote.

NEA’s position is that ill-devised policies that prevent students from learning and educators from teaching drive the Association to advocate for the rights of students and educators alike, whatever the challenges.

Today, Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the American population, standing at 50 million people. That number is expected to double by 2050. With this kind of growth come challenges that directly affect the Latino student population, such as immigration.

“As we talk about the broader picture and the need for 100,000 more engineers a year, none of that is possible if our children are being pulled out of school because parents are afraid of being deported,” said Alfredo Estrada, editor of LATINO magazine.

To help keep all students in school, NEA has come out fervently against anti-immigration policies and laws, such as Alabama’s House Bill 56, the harshest anti-immigration measure in recent U.S history. Part of the original law required public school officials—from elementary to high school—to determine a student’s immigration status. The law also mandated school districts to submit to state education officials yearly tallies on suspected undocumented immigrants.

Many parents who feared deportation pulled their children out of school.

“Education is the human and civil rights issue of our time, and it’s not the human and civil rights issue for some students. It’s the human and civil rights issue for all students,” said Rocío Inclán, director of NEA’s Human and Civil Rights department. “When an uncle or a sister is being deported and families have to move—that has an impact on teaching and learning; it has an impact on achievement; and it has an impact on you and the United States.”

NEA has also partnered with outside organizations that promote solutions to immigration reform, such as the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals.

NEA is working with United We Dream, a youth-run advocacy group, to hold application clinics at schools and community colleges to help undocumented students fill out the required paperwork. NEA is also training its members on how to work with DREAMers, young immigrant students who were brought to the United States as children.

Said NEA President Lily Eskelsen recently in an interview, “We’re telling [teachers] to use words like ‘might’ and ‘you want to look into,’” she says. “The worst thing in the world for us to do is to somehow have a family believe that they have been promised something like a path to citizenship.”

America’s prosperity is tied to innovation. By protecting the social justice rights of Latino students, educators have the ability to encourage more students to take STEM courses.

However, as the Latino population continues to grow so will the need to train educators in specific professional development programs.

Changing American landscape

During the conference, Rita Haecker, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said that preparing educators for the demographic shifts across the United States requires training that direct relates to Latino students.

“The majority of students entering [Texas] classrooms today are Hispanic,” said Haecker. “Two-thirds of the 1 million students that were added in the last 10 years were Hispanic students, and they will become the majority of people in the classrooms.”

Haecker explained that while Hispanic students are the majority, the teaching force is mostly non-Hispanic.

“The need for teacher preparation programs, mentor programs, and cultural diversity programs for all teachers is essential,” said Haecker.

Such teacher preparation programs include the NEA’s C.A.R.E. (Cultural, Abilities, Resilience, and Effort) Guide, which trains educators to connect to culturally and linguistically diverse students by connecting to students’ everyday experiences and integrating classroom learning with out-of-school experiences.

The guide also showcases ways to improve a teacher’s practice, such as designing lessons that require students to identify and describe another point of view, different factors, consequences, objectives, or priorities; and providing instruction that helps to increase the consciousness and valuing of differences and diversity through the study of historical, current, community, family, personal events, and literature.

NEA’s $500,000 commitment to STEM

President Obama has called for 100,000 STEM teachers to prepare students for the jobs of the future. NEA has responded with a $500,000 challenge grant that calls on leading business and technology companies and philanthropists to join the Association in working to expand a successful New Jersey Education Association program that helps increase the number of certified science and math teachers.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, a math teacher with more than 20 years of classroom experience, recently made the call to action on a webcast with education leaders across the country.

“We’re committed to preparing students to succeed in the worldwide economy, that’s why we’re working together to get additional qualified, caring, and committed math and science teachers into classrooms. Right now, there’s a severe shortage, especially in low-income communities, and that needs to change. But we cannot do it alone,” said Van Roekel.

America’s success is directly related to the quality of the U.S. education system. As a union of educators, NEA is putting its professional and financial support to work to help advance programs and initiatives that are proven effective. If America wants to retain its innovative edge, it will need to invest wisely and look forward to reaping the rich potential of its Latino students.

This article was first published in NEA Today.

[Photo by Houston Museum of Natural Science ]

PRESS RELEASE

NEA DREAMer STUDENT CONTEST RULES

The Inspiring DREAMer Student Voice: One Dream

·     Write a story that describes your pursuit of the American dream, the role an educator has played in your life, and how your personal story underlines the urgent need to fix our nation’s broken immigration system.

·     The story must be written and submitted by a student or former student whose education has been impacted by the broken U.S. immigration system.

·     The story should be no longer than 300 words.

Story Selection Criteria

A panel of at least three judges employed by NEA whose expertise includes education, immigration and communications will select an “Inspiring DREAMer Student Voice” from among the stories submitted online by the DEADLINE of 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, March 27.The stories will be judged on:

·          How compelling and well written they are.

·     Their relevance to the theme of “Common Sense Immigration Reform Now.”

·     The top three finalists will be contacted by NEA staff prior to selection for a brief interview. The “Inspiring DREAMer Student Voice” will be selected from among the three finalists on the basis of the criteria above as well as his or her ability to communicate the story and the urgency of common sense immigration reform for students.

Selected Story

·     The writer of the selected story shall agree to attend the National Immigration Reform Rally and Day of Action on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

·     The selected writer will be notified by phone no later than Monday, April 1, 2013.

·     The writer of the selected story shall agree to be interviewed by NEA staff for use in communications to NEA members and members of the public.

·     The writer of the selected story will be provided transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and two nights lodging (April 8 and 9).  Student writers under the age of 18 may have a parent or legal guardian submit a story on their behalf, in which case the parent or guardian and the Student Voice will receive transportation and two nights lodging.

·     If applicable, NEA shall reimburse the student’s or parent/guardian’s employer for the three days (April 8, 9 and 10) of its employee’s work time.

Deadline

·     Stories must be submitted online at www.educationvotes.org/immigration “Share Your Inspiring DREAMer Story: One Dream” no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Wed., March 27.

Rules

·     Participants must be at least 18 years old and reside in the United States.  Student writers under the age of 18 may have a parent or legal guardian submit a story on their behalf, in which case the parent or guardian will be the legal winner of the contest.

·          Do not use profanity or personal attacks.

·     Submissions shall not expressly identify student or students other than the Student Voice.

·     Submissions must be true.

·     Submissions shall not promote or demean a political party, school official, or elected official.

·     Stories should represent the original ideas of the entrant.

·     No story shall portray NEA or its affiliates in a negative light.

·     There will be only one round of judging to select three finalists and one round of interviews to

select the final Student Voice.

·      Odds of selection depend on the number of stories received.

·      There is no cost to participate.  Stories may be mailed or delivered to the sponsor at the address below, “Attention: Inspiring Student Voice,” if online submission is not possible.  All entries must be received by the deadline.

·     The retail value of the travel and employer reimbursement provided will be determined on the basis of the actual transportation and salary costs of the Student Voice and, if applicable, his or her parent or guardian. These reimbursements are non-transferable.

·     By submitting a story, the writer certifies that he or she meets all eligibility requirements and agrees to serve as NEA’s “Inspiring Student Voice” and to accept and be bound by the decision of the judges and all terms of these official rules.  Where a parent or guardian submits a story on behalf of a minor, by submitting a story, the submitter certifies that he or she is the parent or legal guardian of the student writer, consents to the student writer serving as NEA’s “Inspiring Student Voice,” the student writer agrees to serve as the Student Voice, and both to agree to accept and be bound by the decision of the judges and all terms of these official rules.

·     By submitting a story, the submitter agrees to release, discharge, and hold harmless NEA and its partners and affiliates, and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives, from any claims, losses, and damages arising from or related to his or her, and if applicable his or her minor child’s, participation.

·     NEA is not responsible for technical problems that result in the inability to submit a story or a lost entry.

·     Employees, officers, directors, and agents of NEA, and the parents, spouses, and children of the foregoing, are not eligible to participate.

·     NEA will publicly release the selected Student Voice’s name, and if applicable the parent or guardian who submitted the story on behalf of the student, no later than April 10, 2013.

·     Void where prohibited by law.

Sponsor

“Inspiring DREAMers Student Voice: One Dream” is sponsored by the National Education Association, 1201 16th Street NW, Suite 510, Washington, D.C. 20036. Telephone 202-833-4000, Delia Garcia, NEA Staff.

                                                                                                                  ###

By Edward Graham, NEA Today

All across the United States, undocumented students are forced to suffer in silence because of the constant fear of being deported from the only country that they know. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our students, and our future—and now some are getting a chance to tell their stories through a Salt Lake City-based photo exhibit documenting their struggles.

“There was so much stereotyping about illegal immigrants, and I thought if people understood the stories and knew these kids, they might think differently,” says Annie Brewer, a social worker in the Salt Lake City School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Brewer decided to produce a photo exhibit called “DREAMers: Living in the Shadow of Hope.”

Brewer was frustrated by the lack of opportunities that she saw available for undocumented students in her school district, so she decided that the only way to change public opinion was to give a voice to these otherwise voiceless students. She had seen a photo exhibit on refugees that highlighted their personal stories, and she wondered why the same idea couldn’t be extended to undocumented students.

“I thought, ‘why can’t we do the same thing with these undocumented kids?’”  Brewer says. “I think generally the public just does not really understand the situation.”

After spending more than a year researching the topic and reaching out to different organizations, Brewer was finally put in contact with Lynn Hoffman-Brouse, a professional photographer living in Salt Lake City. Hoffman-Brouse had been a high school teacher for nine years before catching the photography bug, and her interest in non-profit, activist-based photojournalism drew her to Brewer’s idea.

The pair started by approaching students that Brewer knew, mindful of the legalities associated with their project. Students were explained the risks involved, and Brewer and Hoffman-Brouse were careful to protect the students from any potential consequences. But the students were eager to participate, and soon a steady stream of volunteers wanted the opportunity to share stories and reflections.

“One of the things we talked about was the idea of students trying to take charge of their destiny,” says Hoffman-Brouse. “They have this feeling of powerlessness because they’re undocumented and they have this issue hanging over them. Doing this project was a way for them to take control of the issue a little bit.”

In order to preserve their identities, Hoffman-Brouse had the students cover their faces in whatever pose they chose while she photographed them. The students would choose the picture they wanted in the exhibit and then write up a handwritten personal response that was geared towards interpreting the image they selected. Many of the responses showed students who were struggling to comprehend why they were being labeled as criminals by some of the American public.

“You miss something when you can’t look into somebody’s eyes when you’re looking at a portrait, so I wanted to be sure that people saw these kids as real kids who thought about this a lot and were serious about their future,” says Hoffman-Brouse.

Brewer interviewed all 35 of the students who were photographed and wrote up detailed descriptions about their shared experiences. To further protect their identities, Brewer and Hoffman-Brouse made sure that students’ stories didn’t correspond to their portraits, which created a tapestry of similar, yet wholly unique, vignettes of their personal struggles that were interspersed throughout the exhibit. For many of the students, speaking with Brewer was the first opportunity they had to openly describe their lives as undocumented immigrants.

“It was emotional for a lot of them when we talked,” says Brewer. “Many of them had been unable to sit down and share their stories with anyone.”

The “DREAMers: Living in the Shadow of Hope” exhibit first premiered in June 2010 at the Salt Lake City Main Library, and over the next several years it’s been featured at a variety of local schools, universities, art galleries, libraries and community centers in the Salt Lake City area.  The hope is to keep the exhibit circulating throughout Salt Lake City and the country until undocumented students receive equal access to an uninhibited future.

Finishing the photo exhibit has not slowed Brewer’s commitment to fighting for undocumented students.  In collaboration with the Salt Lake City School District and its Equity Department, Brewer has worked with specialists from Social Studies and Fine Arts courses to create a curriculum guide that uses the photo exhibit as a jumping off point into a large discussion about immigration. She’s also started a non-profit, Educational Opportunities for Utah’s Children, to help provide scholarship money to undocumented students. This past year, Brewer’s organization received a $20,000 award from the Mexican government to provide scholarship money for higher education opportunities for undocumented students from Mexico.

Through it all, Brewer has remained steadfast in her resolve to provide a better future for undocumented students. Her advocacy recently earned her a “Cesar Chavez Peace and Justice Award” from the Utah chapter of the National Council of La Raza, and she hopes that her continuing efforts will help lead to meaningful changes for undocumented students in the future.

“This is for so many of them the only country they know,” Brewer says. “They’ve grown here, they’ve gone to school here, they’ve learned the language, they’ve excelled. It wasn’t a choice they made to come here, so it just seems ridiculous that there shouldn’t be a way for them to achieve citizenship.”

Sign the petition to help make comprehensive immigration reform a reality for students and their families.

More information about “DREAMers: Living in the Shadow of Hope

This article was first published in NEA Today.

[Photos by Lynn Hoffman-Brouse]

By David Von Drehle, TIME

When President Obama and Democrats in Congress say they would like to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year, it’s entirely possible that they mean exactly what they say. But in Washington, where taking a statement at face value is the mark of a rube, there’s speculation that, deep down, the Democrats would rather “save the issue”— tweak the process in some way that would make Republican opposition inevitable, then use the failure of reform as a weapon in 2014.

But if the issue is saved for the next election, don’t be surprised if the federal courts get involved. A lawsuit pending in Fort Worth, Texas, asks a U.S. District judge to render President Obama’s 2012 executive order on immigration null and void.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by  paulinaclemente]

By Nadine Natour, NBC Latino

Click on picture to read story.

[Photo by DreamActivist]

By EFE/Fox News Latino

Click on picture to read story.

[Photo by chascow]

By Valeria Fernandez, New America Media

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Arisbeth Meza came to Phoenix from Mexico City, following the path of her older sister. She was 13 and has been working ever since cleaning the homes of the wealthy. In Mexico, she studied until the 7th grade. She never got a chance to go to school in the United States, because she had to work to help support her family.

Now 21, Meza’s low literacy skills in both English and Spanish stand in her way to benefiting from a federal program that offers her a reprieve from deportation.

To qualify for President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, applicants need to have been younger than age 16 when they entered the United States illegally. They must also be either a high school graduate, have a General Education Development (GED) certificate, or be enrolled in high school. They cannot have certain criminal convictions.

Those who qualify for DACA receive a two-year deferral from being deported and can contunie their work or schooling.

Came to Help Parents

For Meza, obtaining her GED certificate –even in her Spanish native tongue–is a huge challenge. She understands a little bit of English, but that is not enough for the test. When it comes to Spanish, it is difficult for her to write or make sense of punctuation. Comas and parenthesis, dashes and semicolons confuse her when she reads.

“I wanted to study when I first arrived, because I saw others doing it. But I came here hoping I could help my Mom and Dad financially,” she said in Spanish.

Meza’s situation is not unique. Advocates for “Dreamers” like her – undocumented youth who came to the country as children and who are advocating for a legal pathway to citizenship — are aware of their educational challenges.

“These are dramatic situations because these kids were not enrolled at school, perhaps out of fear that they would be singled out as undocumented immigrants,” said Carmen Cornejo, an activist from CADENA, an organization that advocates for legalization allowing Dreamers a path to citizenship. “This can also be considered a denial of their rights as children to have an education. In some instances, their family circumstances might have led them to have to work.”

Cornejo said there are opportunities for Arisbeth. Immigration authorities still consider those enrolled in GED classes for the temporary deferred action, she added.

“These kids would have a lot of problems in the long run, if they don’t enroll in a program to try to get the GED,” said Cornejo. Part of the issue is that if Congress gives support for the legalization of youth through legislation similar to the Dream Act, the threshold of education required might be much higher, she explained.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C., roughly 1.76 million youth are eligible for DACA nationally, and about 500,000 of those are younger than age 15. MPI estimates that 350,000 of all who qualify for the benefit have neither a high school diploma, nor are enrolled in school. In Arizona, an estimated 80,000 youth could benefit from DACA. There’s no data on how many of them are currently in high school or have received a diploma.

A Chance to Catch Up

In Arizona, Dreamers have faced a number of hurdles to get ahead in their education. A state law – Proposition 300 — approved by voters in 2006, bars state-funded schools from offering free GED classes to undocumented immigrants, making the path to DACA eligibility difficult for those who may have aged out of the high school system, but still wish to become eligible for the new federal program.

Proposition 300, however, doesn’t remove their right to take the GED exam altogether. Rather, advocates say, it merely bars them from taking GED classes at institutions that receive state funds.

In response, local nonprofits serving Latinos are jumping in to offer GED preparation classes for a fee. The groups are responding to a spike in demand for such services.

In October, the nonprofit Friendly House started offering GED preparation classes focused on helping DACA applicants at a fee of $300 for 10 weeks. The classes are offered in English and Spanish, and test-takers have the option of taking the GED in either language.

“We were very honest with them and told them, “This is where you’re at and this is what you need to do,” said Luis Enriquez, director of adult education and workforce development at Friendly House. “We’re not miracle workers; we’ll give you the tools. We’ll give you a good teacher. It depends on the effort you put in it.”

The program has enrolled about 100 students so far. Assessment tests showed that nearly two-thirds of them had a 6th or 7th grade literacy level in both English and Spanish.

He said it would be extremely difficult for these students to make up for six years worth of education in 10 weeks, but the program can provide clients with extra support and a plan to prepare for the GED exam.

“The problem with Spanish, is that some people speak it, but the Spanish they’re getting in the test, is academic Spanish, [with a lot] of the vocabulary they’ve never seen in social studies,” he said. “They don’t use it in everyday life,” he added.

The students that Enriquez has met are a lot like Meza. They never enrolled in school, because they had to support their family or have children of their own they have to support financially.

DACA May Offer Protection

Some of them, despite their disadvantages, were able to pass the test and are already filing for DACA, Enriquez noted. The educational program offers another advantage, he said. Immigration authorities may consider enrollment in courses to earn a GED in the DACA process.

Meza wants to get her DACA application in because she feels it will protect her, especially now that she’s pregnant and about to have her second child.

In Arizona, laws severely restricting immigrants, such as SB 1070, make it mandatory for authorities to question a person’s immigration status and turn the individual over to immigration authorities.

Financial pressures could once again set her back.

Besides the expense of a second child, Arisbeth is now sending money to her grandmother to buy medicine. So, it may take time for Meza to save up enough for GED classes and application fees to apply for the federal program.

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by a caballero/New America Media]

By Latino Rebels

Here is one video response to Ruben Navarrette that speaks more about the reality of the DREAMers than a series of whiny CNN columns that come across as elitist and reactionary.

We are wondering why Navarrette has suddenly become so absurdly critical of the DREAMers. Guess he forgot what some DREAMers have been doing for the past couple of years. Our take? Without the DREAMers, the push for true comprehensive immigration reform would have vanished from the national dialogue.

Is any movement perfect? Of course not. But if people think that the DREAMers should not stir the pot, then they have no clue about the movement’s essence. The DREAMers have no problem calling out thehypocrisy of the Obama Administration (does Navarrette forget that?) or the Republicans who are quick to ignore them. Sorry if that makes the Latino establishment uncomfortable.

For more of the real story, one that will never make the columns of CNN contributors, check outDreamersAdrift. The real stories are happening every day. The DREAMers didn’t need CNN before, and they don’t need them now.

This article was first published in Latino Rebels.

The Latino Rebels are a collective of social media influentials, bloggers, marketers, journalists, poets, writers, producers, photographers, and marketers. We use humor, commentary, opinions, independent stories, cross-links to others blogs, and our social media platforms to share our universe.

[Photo by  paulinaclemente]

By Elise Foley, Huffington Post Latino Voices

WASHINGTON — Civil rights groups sued Michigan Secretary Of State Ruth Johnson (R) on Wednesday for blocking driver’s licenses for undocumented young people given deportation relief by the president. Denying the group licenses makes many unable to use their newly-granted work authorization, attend school or simply get around.

The American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigration Law Center filed the Michigan suit on behalf of three undocumented young people and a youth immigrant group, One Michigan.

Receiving driver’s licenses is a significant issue to the estimated 1.76 million young undocumented immigrants — often called Dreamers — in Michigan who may be eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Although there are no breakdowns for how many young people in Michigan have been granted deferred action, 102,965 people were approved nationwide as of Dec. 13.

The two-year deferred action means that in most states, those undocumented immigrants can apply for driver’s licenses.

But Michigan, Arizona and Nebraska governments have refused to grant licenses to Dreamers who have been granted deportation reprieve.

“They’re really unable to work and to use benefits of that status because they can’t drive,” said Karen Tumlin, an attorney for the National Immigration Law Center. “Michigan winter is not exactly where you’d want to walk to work.”

In Arizona, the decision seemed partially political. Gov. Jan Brewer (R), an immigration hardliner, announced in August that the state would deny driver’s licenses to deferred action recipients. The civil rights groups filed a complaint in Arizona in November along the same grounds as the suit in Michigan.

Attorneys with the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center said Michigan seems somewhat different — possibly just confused, rather than trying to thwart the policy for political reasons. Johnson, the secretary of state, told her staffers in November not to grant driver’s licenses to deferred action beneficiaries. Her spokeswoman, Gisgie Gendreau, told the Detroit Free Press at the time that they were not allowed, by law, to grant licenses.

“Michigan law requires legal presence, that someone be here legally,” Gendreau told the Free Press. 

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This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

Elise Foley is a reporter for the Huffington Post in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at The Washington Independent.

[Photo courtesy Michigan.gov]

By Jose Cruz, Our Tiempo

#2 D.A.C.A. Executive Order

“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” Executive Order was issued by President Obama on June 15. It states to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to practice prosecutorial discretion towards certain individuals who came to the United States as children.

The order provided the first protection for young immigrant DREAMERS who for the first time were allowed to come out of the shadows and gain a form of legal status in the country. The move was met with great support within the Latino community and also helped Obama with Latino voters in the election.

This article was first published in Our Tiempo.

Jose Cruz is a Puerto Rican/Irish multi-city/multi-hat guru at OurTiempo.com. An online entrepreneur, Jose is the in house editor and writer. With a background in politics and a career that includes a law degree, the Clinton White House and managing and developing websites geared at the Latino community, his tastes are as diverse as his work. Just at home diving into a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza to munching on a Fish Taco in East LA. Twitter: @JoseCruz2000

[Photo by  paulinaclemente]

By Malcom Marshall, Richmond Pulse/New America Media

RICHMOND, Calif.—Immigration issues, such as President Obama’s program to defer deportation for undocumented youth pending wider reforms, usually aren’t associated with Richmond, Calif. Across the Bay from San Francisco, Richmond has long been seen as a largely African American city in an otherwise conservative county doted with bedroom suburbs serving Oakland and other urban communities. But a new reality has dawned in town.

Recent activity helped sharpening the area’s focus on it growing Hispanic community. For one thing, energized Latino community groups working with black churches and other African American organizations got out enough voters in the county to reverse the typical anti-tax atmosphere by delivering enough voters Nov. 6, to give Gov. Jerry Brown one of his biggest county victories in passing Proposition 30, the new tax measure for state education.

Richmond’s CLOUD

The rising Latino presence in Richmond was evident on a recent Monday evening in November at the office of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO). Meeting there were members of Community Leaders Organizing Undocumented Dreamers (CLOUD), who gathered to assist those interested in submitting an application for the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The landmark DACA program, announced by President Obama last summer, allows undocumented young people who, among other requirements, arrived in the United States before they turned 16 and were still under age 31 as of June 15, 2012, to apply for a temporary work permit.

Carlos Martinez, 23, who describes himself as “undocumented and unafraid,” is one of the founders of CLOUD. At the Monday evening gathering, he sat at a table, ready and waiting for people to arrive. CCISCO helped to form CLOUD to educate the city’s immigrant community about the details of the new federal program, and to assist them in their applications.

Martinez fell in love with the community after moving to the Bay Area three years ago for college and moved to Richmond last year.

“I used to live in San Francisco and Daly City, but I didn’t feel connected to the community,” Martinez said. But a friend of his lived in Richmond and recommended it as a place he could call home. Following his friend’s advice, Martinez soon went to check it out.

“On 23rd Street, I saw the taco trucks and the Mexican stores and I was like, I wanna live here. [These are] my people.”

Seeing Richmond’s Potential 

He ended up relocating, and soon began to feel like part of the community. Early on, Martinez began noticing the city’s potential.

Already active in the Bay Area’s undocumented rights movement, Martinez was impressed by the many “really humble people” he came across in Richmond. One such person was Jose Juan, another undocumented youth.

“We’re both undocumented and we both founded CLOUD,” Martinez said.

Both, too, had experience with community organizing. Martinez previously had a hand in the creation of a resource center at City College of San Francisco for students affected by AB109 – California’s prison realignment measure.

Meanwhile, Jose Juan had been active in the Richmond community with such groups as Building Blocks for Kids, where he developed an understanding of the needs of the community. Martinez calls it a perfect formula that led the two to co-found CLOUD.

“We both are going to benefit from deferred action,” Martinez said. “We knew Richmond needed this. We want to let people know that we are here to answer any questions that the community has.”

CLOUD’s main goal is to provide information about Deferred Action, such as who’s eligible and who qualifies, as well as to help community members apply for it. They also want to organize the undocumented community in Richmond, beyond deferred action.

“We see the bigger picture. We see that a lot of the population that lives here in this county is undocumented. Unfortunately, they don’t qualify [for deferred action], so we also want to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes all of us, not just a few,” Martinez stressed.

To date, CLOUD has hosted two events and volunteered for another sponsored by Catholic Charities. The group gave out information and screened people to see if they qualify for DACA, services they provide to the community for free.

Jackelin Valencia, 20, has lived in Richmond for 14 years, and graduated from Kennedy High School. She got involved with CLOUD at their first event, quickly recognizing the importance of the work they were doing.

“When I was in high school, I was organizing at my school. When I came on to CLOUD,” Valencia said, “ I wanted to get involved and help the undocumented community because I knew there wasn’t another group like this here in Richmond.”

“We’re definitely starting something,” Valencia said. “People are excited, just being part of a group — they say it feels like a family. As undocumented Dreamers, most of us, we value education–we value family because of the struggle” they’ve all been through.

Deferred Action will allow young undocumented immigrants who meet the age requirements, to apply for work permits, a driver’s license, and avoid deportation for a renewable period of two years. To qualify they must not have a felony or significant misdemeanor on their record, and are either enrolled in school or have the equivalent of a high school diploma,

Understanding that DACA benefits are only temporary, CLOUD plans to stay in touch with the Dreamers they help to apply. “You have a work permit for two years,” Valencia
said. “What about after that? We need immigration reform for everyone. What about our parents? They struggled so much. What can we do for them?”

The Interfaith Impact

Being connected to CCISCO’s deep community network of various interfaith groups across Contra Costa County has enabled CLOUD to make a big impact.

“[CLOUD] was formed by youth leaders from our different congregations and high schools, working with Carlos who was our Dream summer intern and our organizer Claudia Jimenez,” explained CCISCO director Adam Kruggel. He credited The California Endowment with funding Martinez’s position.

Kruggel described CCISCO as a multiracial, multi-generational, interfaith federation of 25 congregations and youth organizations in Contra Costa County. She said they established it to building civic engagement and increasing public participation by those most affected by injustice and inequity in the county.

“Welcoming the stranger and the immigrant is part of our faith traditions,” Kruggel emphasized. “We see the critical importance of standing with immigrant youth, so they can have a seat at the table of opportunity in this country.”

Kruggel quotes the Scriptures: “The stone that the builders refused will be become the cornerstone.”

CLOUD’s civic-engagement work with CCISCO recently made a huge impact in Richmond. On Election Day, their members knocked on 1,000 doors, targeting voters under 30, people of color and other voters with low turnout rates – all of whom contributed to Contra Costa County having the fourth highest voter turnout in the state and the third highest “Yes” vote for Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax measure.

“That’s a real shift in a county which has been more conservative, especially on fiscal issues; as well as in Richmond, where voter turnout is [traditionally] low,” Kruggel observed. “CLOUD helped lead the largest volunteer civic-engagement effort in this election cycle. They played a critical role in the region in reshaping what it means to be a multicultural society.”

Martinez said one of the reasons why CLOUD has enjoyed the success it has in Richmond, is the strong role of the church in community life.

“Most of our undocumented community is either Catholic or Christian. So if you want to outreach for an event, you can ask the priest to make a quick announcement,” he said.

That’s how CLOUD was able to get over 300 people to attend their first program at St. Marks Church — the announcements at the church made all the difference.

Through CCISCO, Martinez added, “We have also built a collaboration with Catholic Charities of the East Bay, located here in Richmond. They provide legal services for our events. It’s really important. We can provide information but some folks may have a difficult case and we can refer them to Catholic Charities.”

Martinez also noted that the beauty of CCISCO is they don’t just focus on the Latino community — they also focus on the African American community.

“We need allies [and] CCISCO has been doing a tremendous job. Just connecting those two communities that live here,” Martinez said. He went on, “It’s something that’s new to me and I think [both communities] can do amazing work [together] — like the campaigns to end mass incarceration and mass deportation. It’s something very powerful.”

This article was first published in Richmond Pulse/New America Media.

Malcolm Marshall is Project Coordinator and Multimedia Editor at Richmond Pulse.

[Photo by m marshall/NAM]