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A Temporary Setback and a Victory

On Tuesday, Sept. 21st, local supporters of the DREAM Act shared the disappointment of a temporary setback and celebrated a victory, all in the same day.

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act), a piece of legislation that would establish a path to legalization for undocumented youth who have attended U.S. high schools for at least three years, have earned their high school degrees and are enrolled in college or serving in the armed forces. The act attached to a military spending bill, was brought to the Senate floor for discussion and vote on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010. The legislation was was blocked by the lack of 4 votes of the 60 needed for cloture (to override a filibuster).

There are more than 1.8 million undocumented youth in the U.S. with 65,000 graduating from U.S. high schools each year. Roughly 40 percent of these young people live in California. The number graduating from Long Beach high schools is not known but given that 27 percent of Long Beach residents are foreign-born, the number is undoubtedly high. Some 480 undocumented students currently attend California State Long Beach under California Assembly Bill 540 (AB540), the highest number on any one campus in the nation. AB540 allows California high school graduates to attend its public colleges and universities but allows them no access to financial aid or a path to legalization. Lacking legal status, these college graduates often end up working at low-skilled jobs in the shadows rather than contributing to society in the professions for which their degrees have prepared them.

Local high school, community college and CSULB students had hoped that Tuesday would be the day when their dreams for embarking on a path to legal status in the country they call home would began to come true. But such was not the case. The bill has now been reintroduced in the Senate as a stand alone and will probably be brought to the floor for a vote after the November elections.

On the same day, however, there was an important victory at the Long Beach City Council meeting. Some 35 people mobilized to attend the meeting after learning through the Long Beach Immigrant Rights coalition (the LBIRC) that councilperson Patrick O’Donnell planned to introduce his resolution of council support for the DREAM Act that night. The Coalition had been in conversation with O’Donnell’s office since meeting with him about local immigration-related issues last May.

Those in attendance, many of whom spoke to the council, included Dr. Elena Macias, special assistant to the President of CSULB, students and faculty from Long Beach City College, students and faculty from CSULB (including FUEL, the AB540 student organization), parents, community leaders, member of the Long Beach Human Relations Commission, and members of the citizenship class at St. Athanasius Catholic Church, with their volunteer teacher, Josie Castellanos. The council heard a wide variety of local voices, including stories about how problems created by a broken immigration system block the opportunities of a very talented, hard-working and hopeful group of local youth.

The council members, including resolution co-sponsors Robert Garcia and Steve Neal spoke passionately about the importance of the DREAM Act for our community. The final Council vote of 8-0, was accompanied with a request that news of the resolution be transmitted to elected representatives in Washington, D.C. as quickly as possible.

As supporters walked out of the council chambers, one immigrant mother was heard to say to her son: “You see, son, some people in our community really do care about us.”

The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition would like to thank everyone who mobilized, with special appreciation to its partner organizations, Centro Cha and Long Beach ICO (the Interfaith Community Organization).

Other local issues that this partnership is working on are police-immigrant community relations, ICE raids and their impact on immigrant community trust, city policies regarding towing of cars of unlicensed drivers, immigrants’ access to community resources (including English language and citizenship classes), immigrant empowerment and civic involvement and the creation of city spaces where the voices of immigrant stakeholders can be heard.

—Norma Chinchilla

9/28/2010 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.facebook.com/LBIRC