http://apps.asm.wisc.edu/images/pictures/dream_act.jpgInteresting that the Gomez case has not been noted in the national papers, except for brief mention in the NY Times on Aug. 2nd.
This is a very significant event. Ever since 9-11 it has been near impossible to get any help from the U.S. House for any individual immigrant. Juan's friends are providing the best example for other groups to follow. What else could be done if we organized ourselves in this way?
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Gomez pals learn lobbying lessons in D.C.
The group of teens-turned-lobbyists who went to D.C. to fight the deportation of their high school friend returned to Miami with some lessons in lobbying.
Sat, Aug. 04, 2007
BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER AND LESLEY CLARK
nspangler@MiamiHerald.com
The Killian Senior High students who went to Washington and got the federal government to temporarily halt deportation proceedings against Juan Gomez and his family returned home Friday afternoon, flying into Miami International Airport.
First stop: the airport's press center, where reporters, moms and friends were waiting. Juan, 18, wasn't there, taking the advice of lawyers to keep a low profile.
''This isn't about Juan and Alex [Juan's older brother, 19] anymore,'' said Scott Elfenbein, Juan's best friend. ``It's about fixing a broken system.''
The Killian delegation -- 10 students, most of them friends since middle school heading off for colleges across the country -- spent a week and a half in Washington arguing their case before lawmakers.
A few lessons from Lobbying 101: ''You have to flood the office,'' Elfenbein said. ``Fax, e-mails, phone calls.''
''You can't be shy, you can't be intimidated,'' Joanna Perdomo said.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time waiting in hallways, and don't expect to get more than few hours of sleep a night.
Also, make it easy to understand.
The students prepared packets for all the politicians they visited, each one with an outline of their arguments, a letter from Lincoln Díaz-Balart to President Bush about the Gomez brothers' situation, and a copy of a private immigration bill, sponsored by Díaz-Balart, that would allow them to remain the United States.
45-DAY REPRIEVE
On Wednesday, federal immigration officials released the family from a Broward detention center and granted them a 45-day reprieve from being deported to their native Colombia.
The family now must report back to immigration officials on Sept. 14. That leaves only a small window of time for Congress to take up the matter after it returns from summer recess.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who chairs the House immigration subcommittee, said Friday she and the top Republican on the panel, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, will talk to federal immigration officials about further delaying deportation proceedings.
''We've agreed we will approach the department to ask for the delay to give the committee some more time,'' Lofgren said Friday as the subcommittee met and agreed to look at three other private bills.
The extra time will allow Congress to take up Díaz-Balart's bill, introduced in the House. The bill would not allow the boys' parents to remain in the country, since they knowingly overstayed their visa.
Díaz-Balart argues that Juan and his brother shouldn't be punished for their parents' mistakes.
The parents arrived in South Florida in the 1990s on a six-month visitor visa when the boys were toddlers. The parents eventually sought legal status, but the request was denied, a decision that was upheld on appeal.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested the Gomezes early in the morning of July 25, handcuffing them in their living room. Juan -- a top student at Killian bound for the Honors College at Miami Dade College, if he's permitted to stay in the country -- had time to make one phone call before he was processed at the Broward Transition Center at Deerfield Beach.
He called Elfenbein, his best friend. Within days, a grass-roots campaign to save the brothers was up on Facebook.com, the social networking site. They urged their classmates to contact local legislators in the hope of staving off the deportation order.
Less than a week later, more than 1,500 teens had joined the virtual assemblage. They caught the attention of several local lawmakers, including Díaz-Balart and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Miami Republicans.
The teens also rallied in support of the DREAM Act -- separate, broad-based legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. At least 65,000 students could benefit from passage, but it has been stuck in Congress for years.
Ten of them headed for the nation's capital: Elfenbein, Perdomo, Eduard Monteagudo, Scott Friedberg, Brian Moraguez, Jacob Hart, Mauricio Perez-Rosas, Katie Snow, Lane Clements and Andrew Dubbin. They raised money locally through friends and parishioners at St. Louis Catholic Church.
During their Washington visit, accompanied by Killian government teacher Eric Krause, the teens met with Díaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen -- and did a lot of lobbying.
TOUGH ODDS
The Gomez brothers still face tough odds if they hope to remain in the country.
During the last Congress, 117 private bills were filed on immigrants' behalf in the last Congress. Not a single one passed. Between 1995 and 2006, just 36 bills were approved out of 495 filed. This year, more than 50 are pending; none has been approved.
Republicans on the committee appeared alarmed that private bills are being expanded beyond their traditional cause of helping those with an ''extreme or unusual hardship'' such as being orphaned without attaining legal status.
''I'm concerned about the precedent we might set,'' said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/192514.html
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