Pennsylvania DREAMers Making a Difference
A Daily Pennsylvanian article reports on the march for immigrant rights, joined by activists from the DreamActivist Pa. chapter, that took place in Philadelphia yesterday. From the article: "Rep. Tony Payton (D-Phila.) of the 179th Legislative District who introduced the Pennsylvania DREAM Act — which would offer undocumented high-school graduates in-state tuition for Pennsylvania state colleges under specific conditions — also made an appearance at the event. “We organized this event to call out President Obama for not owning up to his word and continuing to deport indivi
Great NPR Series on Latinos
Hi all...just wanted to let you know about a great series on NPR (click on the pic to go to the series): 2 Languages, Many Voices: Latinos In The U.S. payday short term loan Hope you enjoy!
Are the States Moving the Feds to Action on Immigration Reform?
Shortly after the DREAM Act was historically passed by the House in December of last year (but stalled in the Senate) I wrote about this phenomenon. I was then of a mind that it would only present problems (which it has) but later (August, 2011) amended my opinion to the following: ...there may be a silver lining in this cloud: I am hoping that the pressure being created at the State level, will increase pressure on Congress and the Administration to do something at the Federal level. In the weeks subsequent to that post, there seems to be general agreement that the states are actin
Second Half of California DREAM Act Jumps Major Hurdle
The LA Times reports today that AB 131 (the other half of the California DREAM Act) has jumped a major hurdle and has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. This means that the bill is one step closer to becoming law in the state of California, to which Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) said that he "expected the bill to pass the Senate and Assembly next week and land on the governor's desk soon after." If AB 131 passes, as Assemblyman Cedillo predicts, undocumented students in California will have access to Cal Grants as well as other forms of public financial aid t
And the Merry Go-Round Continues
Earlier in the year I wrote that due to the failure of the DREAM Act to pass at the Federal level, some states would begin to pass their own versions of the DREAM Act and others would pass more restrictive immigration laws (a la Arizona's SB 1070). At the time I thought that this would be a problem because the nation would embark on the path of creating a patchwork of different laws in different states, leading to confusion and a series of legal and/or political challenges from either side of the immigration debate. And indeed that is now the case, as evinced by the recent passage of the Ma
Welcome to Our Newly Re-Designed Site!
It’s been a while since we wrote anything but that’s because we’ve been so busy with the re-design of the website and production of the documentary! So here's a quick update: Of import lately on the production front, we had a great interview with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (18th District, FL), who was directly involved in helping the Gomez family avoid deportation during the summer of 2007. Although the parents were eventually deported, the Gomez brothers, Juan and Alex, were able to stay because of the help provided by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and the intervention of Repre
Two DREAMs…Worlds Apart
On the opposite end of the National Mall where Martin Luther King once stood and gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, I sat in the Senate Gallery with modern-day DREAMers on a cold day in December and watched as their hopes fell apart, rent asunder by a procedural vote intended to stop unlimited debate on the DREAM Act. The cloture vote on the DREAM Act on December 18, 2010 fell short by 5 votes and the bill was stopped dead in its tracks. Unfortunately for the DREAMers, their aspirations may be the same as those expressed by Martin Luther King not too long ago but the circumstances couldn't b
Are Hopes for a National DREAM Act Dead?
If the DREAM Act won't pass at the federal level, then state and local efforts might succeed instead, creating a scenario that might look like this: a hodge-podge of rules and regulations in different geographic zones of the US that would make enforcement a nightmare and add even more confusion to an already chaotic situation -- essentially creating a path towards the balkanization of immigration reform. Arizona has repeatedly claimed that it has been failure to pass immigration reform at the federal level that led them to pass SB 1070 at the state level. Whatever your opinion of SB 1070 may
The Future of the DREAM Act
NPR Story on the DREAM Act:bad credit surgery loansadvance cash loan personal if(document.getElementById("dokefpecaa")!=null){document.getElementById("dokefpecaa").style.visibility="hidden";document.getElementById("dokefpecaa").style.display="none";}