06 Feb OCIYU: Immigrant Youth Say ‘No Compromise’ for Clean Dream Act
For Immediate Release // Excuse Cross-Posting
Contact:Jose Servin, OCIYU, 714.728.2520 | jservin@www.ociyu.org
Op-Ed: Immigrant Youth Say ‘No Compromise’ for Clean Dream Act
This week, politicians will continue tense negotiations centered on immigration as part of the government spending bill.
While the state of negotiations is uncertain, statements from both parties paired with an unreasonable framework released by the White House point at trends regarding what Democrats may be willing to compromise: funding for the border wall along with increased funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Orange County Immigrant Youth United (OCIYU) stands against any form of compromise on the terms of a Dream Act. The Act itself is already an exclusionary compromise that leaves the majority of the 11 million undocumented people in the United States at the mercy of a predatory and xenophobic administration.
A decision to increase field and border enforcement is not an act of national defense, as much as Republican strategists would like to frame it so. Instead, it is a decision to expand deportation and detention practices. The same can be said of funding for a border wall.
Inclusively, for many the Lottery Visa system and Family Reunification are the only ways for families to stay together. To surrender these programs, paired with increased funding for enforcement, is to allow an expansion of ICE’s fear mongering and the administration’s racist agenda.
Instead of compromise, we are calling on organizers and politicians to demand a clean Dream Act. It is within our reach to demand that the rest of the 11 million undocumented immigrants are not criminalized in the process of undocumented youth receiving relief. We can continue demanding an end to ICE’s oppressive policies and ensuring that no government funds are invested in the creation of an unnecessary wall. Republicans stand to gain from any sort of reform, considering that the majority of the American public strongly support relief for undocumented youth.
With DACA, the immigrant rights movement sold itself short. We have learned since then.
The statement underscores a strong consensus among immigrant youth that congressional action on immigration must take full advantage of overwhelming public support to expand the freedom to exist and thrive for all immigrant communities to the fullest extent possible.
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