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As predicted, the mid-term elections have changed the balance of power in the U.S. Congress. The House, now in Republican control, will have a very different agenda than over the past two years. If you thought it was hard to work for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) when the Democrats had the run of the place, just wait until we have to deal with the new, ideologically pumped members of the House. To them, immigration reform means building a higher, electrified wall and adding more security at the border, not passing anything even remotely like the DREAM Act, and certainly not CIR, which would create a path to citizenship for the 11-12 million or so undocumented immigrants in the country today.
But despite that fact, DREAMers from all over the United States continue to fight for their cause. Not letting the recent Republican filibuster in the Senate get them down, they have begun to organize around Senator Harry Reid’s promise. That promise, made publicly on Univision before the mid-term elections, let everyone know that he will bring the DREAM Act to the Senate floor to be voted on as a stand-alone bill, no matter what the new make up of the Congress might be after November 2.
DREAMers have been fighting the fight since 2001, when the Act was first introduced, and although there are plenty of activists that have been involved since that time, the youth movement that has sprung up around this issue has been gaining strength and momentum over the past three years. Strength and momentum that participants claim will take them past the recent setbacks and possibly make them a force to contend with over the near future. As Gaby Pacheco, one of the leaders of the student movement says on this San Antonio Current article, “More than ever, youth all across the country have been so ignited that they’ve created a national movement. They’re realizing what’s happening. For us, that’s been the victory.”