A former anti-illegal immigration activist speaks out

Robb Pearson was once deeply involved in a movement that portrayed itself as a patriotic defendant of the rule of law, but was in based in a dehumanizing and xenophobic mentality.
I think this is an honest self-reflection. In parts of his testimony, you can see that he is not so much talking to the interviewer but rather of the process that took him to his change of mind about immigration:


On the second part, he reminisces on how his fellow anti-immigrants prevented him from speaking out against racism, among other things:

He now writes more reflections on our common humanity in his blog. A bit of this story reminds of the many, many conservative people who have reached out and expressed their support for undocumented students and their families. This is, once again, an important point to consider for many in that certain downtrodden political party once known as the GOP.

Tam on the Brown Daily Herald

During her time at UCLA, our very own Tam could blend in among the high-achieving thesis writers by exploring nonlinear storytelling in contemporary literature and albums by Radiohead. In essence, like thousands of others in the educational system, she remained underground and hoped for the future. Then came the congressional hearing and her family's struggles against immigration enforcement, as documented in this USA Today article. Now safe and back in school, Tam's story is the centerpiece on this story about undocumented students in her new school's newspaper. For those not fully aware of how difficult it is for students in our situation to regularize their status, it's a must read:

"It's the idea of what it means to be an American," Tran said. "Are you American if you were born here, but spent your entire life outside of the country? Are you more of an American if you have a Ph.D. in American culture?"

Update: Concerned citizens support Watterson

About a month ago, I linked to the story of Yvonne Watterson, the high school principal who had led a fundraising effort specially dedicated to help undocumented students and then was released from her work. On this radio segment, Latino leaders in her community are now calling for a full investigation. So far, all they have gotten from the district administrators is nothing but silence.

Immigration forum in LA

That is Lourdes and yours truly at last week's immigration forum at the Downtown Labor Center. The rest of the panelists included the South Asian Network, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, NAKASEC, and Law Professor Bill Ong Hing of UC Davis. The event was hosted by the Asian American Action Fund.

Underground Undergrads in the Bay!

We hit up the Bay Area this week for another leg of our book tour
promoting Underground Undergrads.
This week, we have a whopping seven (7!) presentations in two days!

Thursday, January 22nd: Hayward and Oakland

10AM Cal State East Bay, Meiklejohn Hall 2078
12PM Cal State East Bay, Meiklejohn Hall 2078
2:15PM Laney College (Oakland), Library Conference Room
4:15PM Laney College (Oakland), Room 401, 4th Floor of Student Center
7PM Cal State East Bay, Meiklejohn Hall 2078

Friday, January 23rd: San Francisco

10AM SF City College, Room TBA
12:30PM Mission College, Room TBA

Please let people in the area know. Hope to see you there!

On Maine and economic recoveries

I'll admit that the economic prosperity of the state of Maine does not really come to my mind that often, but the commentary by Maine-based economist Catherine Reilly bodes well for those of us promoting a realistic and humane look at the potential of undocumented students. From MaineBiz:

Overlooked: The long-term aging of Maine’s population. “When the economy turns around, as it always does, [businesses] have to have young workers to hire and customers that aren’t on fixed incomes.” Reducing the cost of higher education for out-of-state and even undocumented students could encourage them to live and work in Maine after college. Otherwise, Maine’s economy will be at a disadvantage when the economy recovers.

Now that the demand for answers is high and the supply of certainty incredibly low, a clash of perspectives and ideas, even dividing Obama's people and the Senate leadership, is apparent. But no credible proposal yet has singled out undocumented students as a hindrance to economic growth.
Pass the DREAM Act.

"Immediately"

In my opinion, the strongest word in this statement:


Let's get to work, immediately.

WTF libertarian

I found this gem while tracking blog responses to the change.org announcement, where the DREAM Act is part of the IDEAS for CHANGE in AMERICA. In this case, a young blogger gives us the libertarian analysis of the top 10 ideas, and starts off by not reading the DREAM Act at all:

* Pass the DREAM Act - Support Higher Education for All Students Dream
- Ok this is a Democratic Party staple, the ol' "Please Mr. President, either print some more money or take some away from those nasty rich people and give it to me for my kid's college". Definitely not a Libertarian idea, and unless you feel it is fair to force other people to pay your college bills, it is not yours either.

I usually like libertarians, except when they go off on their objectivist slants. I feel that if you are really going to be that anti-government, though, you should start off by aggressively supporting open immigration policies. My own rant done here. Either way, I left an inquiry and will check later.

Quote of the day, MLK Jr Day edition

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Less than 100 hours until Bush is gone

ILW.com, pro-migrant but otherwise non-partisan, judges Bush's record on immigration policy:

As far as the executive branch is concerned, there's a lot of well-deserved criticism to hand out. One thing stands out as particularly bad. Immigration enforcement towards the last few years of Mr. Bush's presidency was heavy-handed to the point of being inhumane. Especially inhumane was the treatment of families with young children where unweaned infants were separated from their mothers, and parents were often arrested without provision being made for young children in their care. Also especially inhumane was the treatment of detained women who were often chained to a hospital bed even when in labor. The general treatment of immigration detainees bordered on the abusive, at least insofar as the mentality of the custodians and their high level supervisors is concerned. Mr. Obama would do well to quickly and forcefully undo this deplorable chapter of our immigration history.

The record is quite the opposite when looking at Mr. Bush's prodigious efforts on the legislative front. In our opinion, no President in American history has worked quite as hard and at so high a cost as Mr. Bush, to secure immigration benefits legislation from Congress. Despite suffering vicious attacks from racists within the Republican party, Mr. Bush tried valiantly several times (including with McCain-Kennedy and with Kennedy-Kyl) to get Congress to move on immigration. Mr. Bush will deserve some share of the credit when Congress ultimately gets around to CIR, in the sense of being the pioneer who paved the way, and has the arrows in his back to show for it. On this issue, Mr. Obama would do well to follow in Mr. Bush's footsteps and urge Congress to delay CIR not a moment longer.

Too bad Bush opted out of making the DREAM part of his legacy, urging legislators to abandon immigration discussions if they were not part of an overhaul discussion, by sendind a letter to the US Senate in late 2007.

Last minute push for our idea

Armed with the DREAM Act t-shirts and a few computers, we pushed the Dream Act to the Top Ten with the help of Univision. From DreamActivist:

:

One important thing that the segment left out was that there was no "big money" pushing our idea, nor was there a high-tech spamming service to get the word out. Soon enough, MySpace Impact, Netroots Nation, People for the American Way, and all the other big nonprofits that make up change.org will be DreamAct advocates as well, in no small part thank to the work of the DreamActivist's, SURGE's, and Dreams to be Heard's of our movement.

Book Tour Chronicles: Come visit us!

ASIAN AMERICAN ACTION FUND
in conjunction with Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance & UCLA Labor Center

IMMIGRATION REFORM: WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 2009?
Thursday, January 15, 2008
Reception: 5:45 - 6 pm
Panel Discussion: 6 - 7:30 pm

UCLA Center for Labor and Research Education
675 S. Park View St.
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Panelists:

Bill Ong Hing, Professor, UC Davis School of Law

Hamid Khan, Executive Director, South Asian Network

EunSook Lee, Executive Director, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium

Victor Narro, Project Director, UCLA Labor Center

Matias Ramos and Lourdes Galindo, Coordinators, The Underground Undergrads Project

Sara Sadhwani (invited), Immigrant Rights Project Director, Asian Pacific American Legal Center

Moderator

Gautam Dutta, Executive Director, Asian American Action Fund

Please rsvp by Jan. 12 to Helen Tran, helentra AT usc.edu or 626.484.9702

Quote of the day

Fewer prosecutions of corporate thieves, more prosecutions of tomato pickers. Makes perfect sense.

From Max Brantley at the Arkansas Blog, commenting on the NY Times article that highlights that while immigration prosecutions have risen, we have seen staggering declines in the prosecution of organized crime, public corruption, and weapon crimes. Read that here.

UCLA's community-oriented chancellor shares in our Dream

We all blushed a little bit at the Underground headquarters when we read our chancellor write about us in the LA Times in this way:

They are impressive young adults. They will become doctors, engineers and teachers, and they are passionate in their intent to give back to our communities. If we charge them out-of-state tuition, we will rob them of an educational opportunity that they have earned through hard work, and we will lose the benefit of their extraordinary drive and commitment.

After a few "He's talking about Me's" and a couple of sighs, we'd like to commend Chancellor Block for speaking out on his support of AB540 and equal access to in-state tuition for everyone in the state. It's refreshing to see that the stories of undocumented students bring out these university officials to participate as pro-migrant advocates even if they stay away from commenting on overall immigration policy. As we covered before, similar statements have been provided by the chancellors at UC Berkeley and the University of Arkansas. Block's statement is a strong one for UCLA student activists, who had gotten used to expecting deafening silence from that office on controversial issues, until Block arrived on campus in 2007.
Good news, good vibes, go vote for DREAM.
PS: Dear LA Times, at first I was mad that you didn't print my letter on this issue. You are off the hook for now.

AASCU supports undocumented students

Within its report detailing the ten most pressing student issues for the year 2009, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities lays out the landscape for access to higher education for undocumented students. Some states face challenges, some states are looking to pass in-state laws, and some others are essentially shutting their doors down. The policy report is here.

Higher education access and affordability for undocumented students will continue to be debated in 2009, with potential trend-setting consequences. Existing federal law pertaining to in-state tuition for undocumented students is ambiguous, and Congress has repeatedly failed to pass a measure such as the DREAM Act that would support states’ rights to offer in-state tuition to these students. Between 2001 and 2006, 10 states passed measures to provide in-state tuition rates to undocumented students who meet the specified criteria (including residency in the state for a given period of time, earning a high school diploma, and signing an affidavit to agree to seek legal residency status), but since then, no additional states have followed suit. Policymakers have become increasingly wary of acting on this issue without the support of federal law.
In the past couple of years, there have been several high-profile court challenges to existing in-state tuition laws. In September 2008, a California appeals court ruled for the first time that the state’s 2001 law giving undocumented students in-state tuition rates violates a 1996 federal law. The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, and though not binding on other states, it will have implications elsewhere. Officials in other states (including Texas and Utah) have already asked for similar review of their state laws. Also for the first time in 2008, the right of undocumented students to enroll in public institutions in a state has been called into question. In South Carolina, undocumented students have been barred from enrolling in all public institutions (even if they pay out-of-state tuition rates), and in North Carolina and Alabama, they have been barred from community colleges.
As to the future, the new administration and the new Congress should be more favorable toward passing federal legislation that would clarify states’ rights to offer in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students. With this change, the number of states with laws favorable to undocumented students would likely increase, and such a law could stem court challenges such as the one in California. However, this would remain a contentious issue in the states, as not all states will move in a direction favorable to undocumented students and states could still act to bar these students from enrolling in public colleges. If Congress fails to enact such legislation, it is highly unlikely that educational opportunity for undocumented students will improve.

Support the DREAM Act.

Fact and fiction

Here is a story to help you understand what being an undocumented student at the University of California is really like.
My buddy Elaine Reodica is part of the student government at UCLA, where she serves as the Financial Supports Commissioner. (For all those nativists that like to see me suffer to great ends, know that I am the Al Gore of that position).
The student government at UCLA provides funding for student groups, puts together a bunch of events like movie screenings, concerts and workshops, and endlessly fights to the bitter end to declare a victor in the eternal battle between the respective slates of candidates elected each spring.
This year, Reodica and other within the UCLA student government decided that it would be a good idea for leftover funds from the previous year to go to the creation of a small, but meaningful Book Scholarship. They pulled the right strings, made the right pitches, and succeeded in giving 30 students scholarships worth $250 to buy books in the student store. Their only setback? Undocumented students are not eligible due to state law:

But while the seeds of good news are planted, Reodica said the drawing was a “bittersweet” realization of a campaign promise she classified as her number-one priority.
Undocumented students were not included in the pool because they are ineligible to receive financial aid or public funds based on California law. This included Assembly Bill 540 students who pay in-state tuition fees.
Reodica said she was exploring alternative options to include “every student with needs.” This includes legal council with the university and a possible resignation from USAC to solicit private donations through private organizations.
“As much as I’m celebrating today, I won’t consider this a done platform until every student with needs is eligible,” Reodica said.

"So what?," you may say in your most despicable nativist lack of compassion. But when one follows the money in this issue, you realize that undocumented students are being shortchanged because AB540 never guaranteed them equal status in the first place. So here is the fact and fiction money routes to consider:

FACT(as provided by Underground Undergrads and the rest of the youth immigrant movement):
1. AB540 student finds money: Work, fundraisers, private scholarships, or in my case, being really, really ridiculously good looking.
2. AB540 student pays the university: This quarter, enrollment costs are exactly $2,822 at UCLA (at least for the one guy I asked). Then you have to also worry about food, housing, transportation, books.
3. Student government gets money: It comes from ALL students, and it goes to fund ALL its activities.
4. Student government operates: Reodica and her peers try to create a program to help ALL students, but the law intervenes because when the money goes to the school it becomes state money.
5. AB540 student, inching a bit closer to understanding taxation without representation, drinks a Sam Adams to honor the founding fathers.

FICTION(as blurted out by the know-nothing nativists):
1. AB540 students beat up kids from other states.
2. University gives them lots of money from OUR hard-earned tax dollars for them to swim on and buy Rolexes, even though they are illegal, and what part of illegal do you not understand, and let it be known I am all for immigration as long as it is legal, and you have to wait in the back of the line, oh what you say there is no line for these students? well still they are asking for a freebie, oh and soccer sucks. English Only!
3. Everybody speaks Spanish.

I do hope that the university finds a solution to this mess. As you can see, the flawed argument that poses taxpayers vs. undocumented students is not rooted in the actual scenarios presenting themselves in the schools, but only in the minds of those who oppose equal access for undocumented students. And while our "fiction" example is outrageous and extreme, it shows how convoluted the conversation becomes if we detach it from its base: the students. This problem, of course, could have been solved by the California Dream Act. And even though I risk sounding like a bigot nativist, I am gonna blame that failure on an immigrant. Nonetheless, good job to Elaine and the rest of the gang at UCLA. Keep it up!

Back and forth

They say:

I am all for fixing a broken immigration system, but to use a broken immigration system as an excuse doesn’t serve anyone’s purposes. Taking money out of the pockets of legal citizens and legal immigrants doesn’t serve us well either in this case. We are not talking services that are a matter of life or death (denying life-saving health care to illegal immigrants for example).
The statement Matias Ramos makes is right on–and I see as a counter to his own argument. Students are admitted to colleges and universities on their merits. The tuition they are charged is a completely different story. I’m not saying those who “lack legal authority” to be in California should be denied entry in state schools, but I do not believe they should be granted the benefit of state-subsidized in-state tuition. Many people, legal or otherwise, face tough choices when it comes to picking a college. Many have the talent, the accomplishments, and the involvement to be outstanding college students but end up forgoing college because of cost. Ramos is not being penalized by a broken immigration system. He was accepted at UCLA. I could have been accepted at UCLA as well but it doesn’t mean the university has a duty to provide me with subsidized tuition so I can go there.

We say:

Hello, this is Matias Ramos, quoted in the article, here to respond to Turn PW Blue:
First off, in-state tuition is not a subsidy. California provides subsidies in the form of Cal Grants, institutional financial aid, and loans, but not in the pricing ranges of in-state and out-of-state costs. All of those tax-funded benefits are not available to undocumented students. Tuition is purely a revenue, and the only reason they exist is to max out revenue from wealthy out-of-staters seeking to go to college to another state. No revenue from undocumented students would exist if they were effectively “pushed out” by eliminating their access to in-state rates. In addition, 33% of a UC student’s tuition payment goes to create institutional aid (university-based grants) to which they do not have access, once again.
And in terms of being ‘penalized’, I referred to the fact that whether we go to college or not, undocumented students do not have a way within the immigration system to regularize their status based on their own merits and character. That is why we need the DREAM Act.
The worse part of it is scoundrels like you who claim to be “all for fixing a broken immigration system” but only look at their tax dollars and ignore the human plight of millions of members of your society.

Wait for the response or add to the discussion on this Anti-BVBL post.

Get out the vote!

The final round of voting has started on change.org. The DREAM Act was the number one idea for immigration in the first round, but it's going to take a lot of work to make it to the final top ten. Right now we are in the 13th place.

You may be asking yourself: "Yo, Matias, you hot piece of accented verbosity and never-ending wisdom, why does this matter?"
Well, it matters because change.org can bring forward added notoriety to our cause the Dream Act, while renewing strength for the immigrant rights movement within progressive spaces. So register and vote!
This is the DREAM Act link:

Also while you are at it, check out and vote for the other pro-migrant finalists: Support same-sex binational couples and Provide relief for immigrant families
Get out the vote, alert your friends, post it on facebook, announce it on twitter and go tell it on the mountain!
PS: Happy 2009!

Underground Undergrads in the LA Times

I had been in the LA Times before, but never in these terms:

Matias Ramos, who graduated from UCLA last year, said the out-of-state costs exceed the annual family income for many illegal immigrant students. Ramos, an illegal immigrant from Argentina, said that such students who attend public California colleges and universities are accepted based on their academics, talents and involvement and shouldn't be penalized because of a broken immigration system that leaves them few options.

That's from today's article, California Supreme Court to take on state law granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, which you can read here.