Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies is on the ropes in Arizona and many parts of our country are inching toward following step. It's more important now than ever to understand the value of knowledge.  Knowledge that brings clarity to one's own experience.  This video sheds some light on the value of ethnic studies for Raza youth but this is equally true for any youth of color

Precious Knowledge Trailer from Ari Palos on Vimeo.

SAVE ETHNIC STUDIES!

Before You Enlist / Antes de Alistarte

2011 version of the must see video for young people thinking about enlisting in the armed forces.
Now Available in English and Spanish.

The military spends billions of dollars painting an attractive picture of military life for prospective young recruits.  This video spends 15 minutes describing some of the inconvenient truths that military recruiters don't share with potential enlistees.
Please share widely.

ENGLISH

ESPAÑOL

DREAM for Some But not for All

This is one of 1.4 million youth who need more options than currently offered by the DREAM Act.  We can make excuses or we can make calls demanding more options for our undocumented youth:

Tell Your Senator to have the courage to improve the DREAM Act | American Friends Service Committee

We Want DREAMs Not M16s!!!

Students rally for Dreams Not M16s! from k9sound on Vimeo.

For the first time in the history of a 9 year movement, on December 3rd 2010 a DREAM Act Rally had High School youth Leading chants that challenged the militarization of the DREAM Act.  Oakland youth understand probably better than most people in this country the terrible state of public education and the rising cost of higher education.  This is why they understand better than most the need for more options than college or military in something going by the name of DREAM Act.

 Please share this video and these emerging fierce voices demanding more than Democrats seem willing to fight for.  At a time of political cowardice on anything related to migrant justice this kind of courage from the youngest and most vulnerable migrant youth is inspiring.

If these young people don't get to DREAM don't let it be because you did not fight for their future:

Tell congress Improve then PASS the DREAM Act!!!

The Death of the DREAM - and how to breathe life back into it!

Last night Sen. Reid filed a new version of the DREAM Act under Rule XIV procedures (S.3992 Development Relief Education for Alien Minors).  It has at least 16 major changes from previous versions of the Act 15 of them toxic.

The original DREAM much like the Bay-Area Graffitti artist by the same name is dead. These changes were made as a last ditch effort to win Republican support to pass a bill in the Lame Duck. It is important to remember that Democrats never fought for this as a stand alone bill when they counted on super majorities and had much more political capital in DC.

For some this bill is still worth fighting for, for others it is too little to late with too many military strings and not enough viable alternatives to gaining legal status.  Regardless of where you stand, one thing is clear, this is not the same Bill that inspired a 10 year movement on college campuses.  It is not the same bill that immigrants rights orgs and activists held their nose and supported when CIR lost it's last chance.  It is the new and degraded Republican DREAM Act and here are the major changes:

1. Creates conditional nonimmigrant status for 10 years, followed by 3 years of LPR status (Lawful Permanent Resident Aka Green Card Holder) prior to application for naturalization. (Original bill 2001 was 3 years, in 2003 it became 6 years of waiting and now a full Decade)

2. Eliminates repeal of in-state tuition ban. (In-state tuition can be ten times cheaper than out of state, this is probably the biggest barrier to college access for undocumented youth and the DREAM Act no longer addresses it)

3. Broadens the definition of institution of higher learning to include vocational institutions (One of the few positive changes unfortunately only impacting a very small slice of potential DREAMers)

4. Must show good moral character since time of entry into the country (rather than date of enactment as in previous versions, this will make less undocumented youth eligible)

5. Creates more grounds of inadmissibility, deportability, and other grounds for exclusion. (This again limits number of eligible undocumented youth)

• 1. Ineligible for engaging in voter fraud, unlawfully voting, marriage fraud, public health risk, likely to become a public charge, student visa abuse, polygamy, draft evasion, persecution of others.
• 2. Ineligible for one felony or three misdemeanor convictions. 

6. Lower age cap from 34 to 29.

7. Requires submission of: biometric and biographic data, a background check, a medical examination (big brother facilitating possible deportations in the future)

8. Expands required disclosures and creates exceptions to confidentiality requirement for criminal, homeland security, or national security purposes. (Big Brother again prepping for future deportations)

9. Application deadline for conditional nonimmigrant status– alien must apply for conditional status within one year after obtaining high school degree or GED, admittance to institution of higher education, or date of enactment.  (Will create more ways to be denied)

10. Requires selective service registration. (continues the militarization of the DREAM Act and migrant youth)

11. Requires alien to demonstrate prima facie eligibility to receive stay of removal while application pending. (More hoops to jump through)

12. Burden of proof – requires alien to demonstrate eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence. (And More Hoops)

13. Adjustment to LPR status (more ways to delay and deny naturalization and the franchise)

• 1. Must show good moral character during the 10 years in conditional status (longer period in which to catch 3 misdemenours = more low-income migrant youth excluded)
• 2. Cannot have been absent from the US for a total of more than 365 days during the conditional status 
• 3. Application deadline – must file for adjustment of status during the period beginning 1 year before and ending on either the date that is 10 years after the date of the granting of conditional nonimmigrant status or any other expiration date of the conditional status. 

14. Requires alien to pay back taxes before conditional status removed. (Creates cost barriers for some)

15. No Expedited Processing of Applications section, as included in earlier version. (Delays process more room for reasons to deny)

16. Eligibility for Health Care:

• While in conditional nonimmigrant status, ineligible for subsidies under the Exchange. (migrant youth can't get health care another reminder of second class status in this society)

If the DREAM Act were Graffiti you could say Washington just "went over our piece" 15 times.  No higher form of disrespect exists. The DREAM for many is DEAD.  But much like the Graff Artist Mike "DREAM" Francisco who is more alive in the BAY-Area and beyond today than when he walked these streets and tagged these walls, we too can breathe life back into the real DREAM Act by honoring it, by screaming it's true name to those in power who don't want to hear it anymore than they want to see urban art.

One positive change to drastically transform and breathe life back into this dying legislation is to bring back the community service path to papers. This would create an accessible path to legal status for the overwhelming majority of undocumented youth.

If we are giving away 15 bargaining chips I think we should be demanding at least one from the other side?

Now is not the time to light candles and morn. It is the time to tag the walls of congress with our truths.
Grabb your cell phone and your spray can and hit up congress:

TELL CONGRESS TO BREATH LIFE BACK INTO THE DREAM

Mike "DREAM" Francisco Rest In Power!

Papers for ALL Undocumented Youth!

BLOGGER'S NOTE: This post is reposted here from mexmigration. It is the most clear and concise analysis of the DREAM Act, with adequate contextualization married to a call for action that I have come across. Gracias Alejandra. (Images were added for emphasis)

By: Alejandra Suarez


On Wednesday, November 10th just one week after the Midterm elections, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out in support of the DREAM Act. Along with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Pelosi has promised to push for its passage during the lame duck session. Both legislators are keenly aware of their party’s dubious standing without Latino support. Certainly, it was the Latino vote which helped Reid maintain his congressional seat. Likewise, as Pelosi seeks to become House Minority Leader, her announcement to push for a vote on the proposed legislation is meant to rally support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and progressives.

But what are they offering us?

In 2008 Barrack Obama won the presidency by securing the Latino vote on the promise of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) during his first year in office. Yet almost two years later 11 million undocumented immigrants continue to wait for a path to legalization. Worse yet, they wait in fear as the number of raids and deportations have skyrocketed under the Obama administration, a record 400,000 this past year alone. 

The intensification and institutionalization of repressive measures like S-Comm, 287(g), E-Verify, and the militarization of the border have all created an atmosphere of terror in immigrant communities.Obama's delayed promised of immigration reform also allowed for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s strike, enacting SB 1070, which represents a widespread attack on the immigrant community not only in Arizona but throughout the nation. Democratic leaders including President Obama have declared CIR dead. Instead they offer piecemeal legislation like AgJOBS and the DREAM Act.


The numbers don’t add up

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of undocumented youth living in the United States, estimates are in the millions. According to studies only around 2.1 million would potentially be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act. However, the Migration Policy Institute reports that a merely 825,000 or 38% of these 2.1 million would meet all the requirements for legal permanent residency (LPR). This is a tiny minority who would actually benefit from the DREAM Act, leaving the overwhelming majority with no way to legalize their status and vulnerable to deportation.

Furthermore, one of the requirements for gaining LPR is attending college or university for at least two years; an unlikely proposition taking into account the costs of higher education and the discrimination inherent in our national educational system. Nationally, the cost of attending college has increased 439% from 1982 to 2007 (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education). In California, tuition fees at the UC’s and CSU’s continue to increase from 32% last year to 15% this year and a scheduled 8% and 10% increase next year for UC’s and CSU’s respectively. The community colleges are no different. Last year they saw a fee increase of 54% and course offerings shrink.

Along with that grant and scholarship offerings are also shrinking. And contrary to popular belief “students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families” (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education). Likewise, DREAM Act students would not be eligible for federal financial aid -- only loans and work study. Moreover, the DREAM Act gives states the prerogative to decide if these students qualify for in-state tuition (repealing Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996).

Moreover, the barriers to socio-economic progress are stack such that racial and ethnic minorities have a slim chance of success in this country. For example, although Latino, black, and Native Americans accounted for 29% of high school graduates, they only made up 13% of incoming freshmen at the UC’s in 2007. And that number has decreased in recent years. The national high school drop-out rate among Latinos is around 40%. In California the drop-out rate is 36%.

In addition, a significant percent of the 1.5 generation coming to the United States without papers arrive with very little schooling and come to work to contribute to the family income. These undocumented youth would not even qualify for conditional LPR status.

Guns for Papers

The other option the DREAM Act offers in order to gain LPR status is two years of military service. Given the new higher education framework, the military option then becomes the de-facto choice to gain LPR status for most undocumented youth. Those non-citizens already fighting overseas have gained very little as permanent residency is not guaranteed and posthumous citizenship brings no benefits to families of the deceased. Besides, the threat of deportation even for those in uniform is still a possibility.

With the continued occupations in the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as the increased militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border, it is very likely that those joining the military under the DREAM Act will see combat. And although the DREAM Act asks for only two years of military service, we must be aware that there is no such thing as a two-year military contract. Since the National Call to Service Plan passed in 2003 all enlistment requires a minimum of eight years.

For a DREAM Act with NO military strings!

Undocumented youth are tired of the vast inequities and limited opportunities afforded to them because of their citizenship status. We fight for the right to education for all, the right to have a job that helps our families get out of poverty, the right to live without fear of incarceration and deportation, the right to keep families together.

We denounce the Democrats for their political maneuvering offering empty promises in exchange for our vote. We should not be asked to assist in the continued occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, or in any new militaristic adventures in Latin America, Iran, or elsewhere in order to obtain papers for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Nor should we have to subjugate our Peoples in their native lands or on the border.

We in the immigrant community are not discouraged by the lack of political will in Washington. We will continue to fight for a new and just immigration policy based on human and workers' rights. More than ever, it is necessary to (re)build an independent mass movement for legalization. It will take huge mobilizations and strikes like those that took place in the spring of 2006 to force the ruling elite to grant our just demands.

More than ever, the passing -- and the content -- of the DREAM Act depends on our independent struggles today. The future of the DREAM Act depends on us being able unify and push forward in united action!

Students, parents, community activists and their organizations are mobilizing on December 3 in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco to demand papers for ALL! Join the anti-military, pro-legalization contingent calling for a DREAM Act with No Military Strings Attached! And join us in San Francisco or organize a solidarity action in your community.

To endorse this action: jos3rom3ro@gmail.com

Cohorts and Class

The Migration Policy Institute issued a report in July with an analysis of the potential impact of the DREAM Act as currently written.

CHECK OUT THE FULL REPORT

Although the two white women who author the report are clearly favorable to passage of the current DREAM Act.  They lay out some damming numbers.  They slice up the Undocumented Youth Community into 4 cohorts which allows for class and educational attainment analysis of the DREAM Act's impact.

The first cohort is made up of the clearest beneficiaries of the current language of the DREAM Act.

These are undocumented young adults who already have at least an Associates degree, some have a Bachelors and a small portion of this cohort actually have post graduate degrees.  For this cohort the DREAM Act would mean instant legalization for all without the need for almost any action on their part.  I would argue that this group is the base for most of the current DREAM Act campus based organizing.  It is a cohort slightly larger than 100,000 undocumented young adults.  They make up less than 5 percent of the undocumented youth community that will be impacted by this legislation and according to the report less than 1/3 of them are low income. 

However for every other cohort this report analyzes they estimate more than half of each cohort would not be likely to gain legal status through the current language of the DREAM Act.

In fact for the last cohort, Young adults without a GED or High School Diploma, the possibility of legalization is glum.

This last cohort accounts for 24% of undocumented youth and a staggering 96 % are estimated to remain undocumented after the current DREAM Act passes.  Not surprisingly over 2/3's of this cohort is low-income.

We have heard a great deal from the first cohort, the ones who see a guarantee of legalization in the current language of the DREAM Act.  We have not on the other hand heard from the rest, the vast majority of undocumented youth.  We have not heard from those more likely to be faced with the choice of being on the run from Arpaio or Al-qaeda if the current DREAM Act passes.  

This blog will continue to lift their voices and this analysis.  My guess is they will demand more for their cohort from anything that calls itself a DREAM Act.  They will demand the kinds of guarantees the current DREAMers and their cohort see in the current DREAM Act - and they deserve nothing less.