Senate Dems To Obama: Stop Deporting DREAM Act Students

Gillibrand makes the case for DREAMers.

First Posted: 04/14/11 06:14 PM ET Updated: 04/14/11 06:22 PM ET - huffington post

Elise Foley elise@huffingtonpost.com Become a fan of this reporter

 

WASHINGTON -- Leading Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), called on the president on Wednesday to stop deporting undocumented young people who grew up in the United States.

A letter signed by 22 Senate Democrats asks President Barack Obama to use his executive authority to prevent deportation of young people who would have benefited from the DREAM Act, a bill that failed in the upper chamber last year. The legislation would have allowed undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to stay, provided they kept a clean record and either enrolled in college or joined the military...more

thanks to M.O. for sending this along

Help Keep a Texas DREAMer from Being Deported

from FIEL

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Over 5,000 Signatures in 48 Hours

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Hello FIEL Supporters!

We are happy to announce that since we went public with Mario's campaign, 2:30p.m. Wednesday March 30, 2011, we have collected over 5,000 signatures! We want to thank each and everyone of you for your support and would like to encourage you to sign Mario's petition if you haven't done so already by clicking here

Pleas forward this email you your friends and family!

If you want to print out and sign the petition click here Please print, sign and fax it to 713-669-5293 attention to Anna Patrick.

Finally FIEL would like to thank Neighborhood Centers Inc. for their upmost support on this case and for being a partner in the campaign along with United We DREAM.

Thanks to all of you who have signed and together we CAN keep Mario Perez Home! (below is his story and more action items you can do)

Sincerely,

FIEL

Hello,
Mario is among the thousands of undocumented students who could benefit from the passage of the DREAM Act.  But three months after the DREAM Act failed in the U.S. Senate, an immigration judge in Houston  threatened Mario’s American dream. Mario has no criminal record but came to the attention of ICE due to traffic violations. On March 9, 2011, the immigration judge ordered him removed from the United States. He could be deported as early as April 2011.

 

Mario came to this country at an early age and was raised in the Houston area. America is all he has ever known. This is Mario’s home.  He did not understand that he was undocumented until he was applying to college and learned he did not have a social security card. Like many DREAMers, his persistence paid off and he was able to pursue a college education. He is currently a senior at Stephen F. Austin State University majoring in mathematics and statistics. As a proud member of the legendary Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Mario has contributed more than 1,400 volunteer hours to the community, and he planned to pursue a career in engineering.

 

Unfortunately, unless Mario’s deportation is stopped, his hard work and dedication could have been in vain. Sign this petition to ask the Department of Homeland Security and the President Obama to immediately halt Mario’s deportation.
 

Here are some things you can do to help:

1.       Sign this petition:  http://bit.ly/hzMSUR
2.      Email a link to this petition to 5 friends: http://bit.ly/hzMSUR
3.      Tweet about it: Mario Perez could be deported as early as April 2011! Help stop his deportation. Sign the petition: http://bit.ly/ifdjw8

4.       Join the facebook group: Stop the Deportation of Mario Perez

5.       Change your facebook status to: Stop the Deportation of Mario Perez http://tinyurl.com/FacebookMarioPerez

6.       Volunteer with FIEL Houston, the group advocating locally for Mario: http://fielhouston.org/
Thank you for your HELP!

FIEL

Deferred Deportation for DREAMers!

Senators Lugar and Durbin are requesting that DREAMers not be Deported. This seems to be an idea that has much more viability. Lets hope:

see letter from Durbin and Lugar

April 21, 2010 The Honorable Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528 Dear Secretary Napolitano: We respectfully request that you grant deferred action to individuals who would be eligible for cancellation of removal or a stay of removal under S. 729, the DREAM Act, bipartisan immigration reform legislation that we have introduced. As you know, the DREAM Act would provide immigration relief to a select group of students who arrived in the U.S. when they were 15 or under, have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, have good moral character, are not inadmissible or removable under a number of specified grounds, have graduated from high school or obtained a GED, and attend college or serve in the military for two years. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 6, 2009, you testified, “the Dream Act is a good piece of legislation and a good idea.” We greatly appreciate your support for the DREAM Act. However, pending enactment, individuals who would be eligible for the DREAM Act are subject to removal, and such cases are currently handled on an ad hoc basis. Though they are technically out of status, DREAM Act students should not be removed from the United States. The DREAM Act is narrowly tailored to assist only a select group of young people, many of whom came here with their parents at an age when they were too young to understand the consequences of their actions. Deferred action for DREAM Act students would conserve limited enforcement resources. DREAM Act students are not, and should not be, an enforcement priority for DHS. As then-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner explained in a November 17, 2000 memorandum on “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion”: Like all law enforcement agencies, the INS has finite resources, and it is not possible to investigate and prosecute all immigration violations. … As a general matter, INS officers may decline to prosecute a legally sufficient immigration case if the Federal immigration enforcement interest that would be served by prosecution is not substantial. The Meissner memorandum suggests developing a list of “triggers” to “identify cases at an early stage that may be suitable for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.” A number of these factors apply to DREAM Act students, including “Juveniles,” “Aliens with lengthy presence in United States,” and “Aliens present in the United States since childhood.” Deferred action for DREAM Act students would not apply to a large number of individuals. Based on information gathered by Senator Durbin’s office over the last several years, only a small number of DREAM Act students are placed in removal proceedings. This is probably because these students are well integrated into American society and do not typically engage in behavior that makes them an enforcement priority for DHS. The current leadership at Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been very helpful in addressing individual DREAM Act cases that have come to our attention. However, deferred action for DREAM Act students would be more efficient than the existing ad hoc system. The decision to grant deferred removal in a DREAM Act case is frequently made shortly before the removal date. This is an inefficient use of limited resources. As the Meissner memorandum states: As a general matter, it is better to exercise favorable discretion as early in the process as possible, once the relevant facts have been determined, in order to conserve the Service’s resources and in recognition of the alien's interest in avoiding unnecessary legal proceedings. There is a recent precedent for deferred action for DREAM Act students. In June 2009, DHS granted deferred action to widows of U.S. citizens who were married for less than two years prior to their spouses’ death. As you said at the time, “Smart immigration policy balances strong enforcement practices with common-sense, practical solutions to complicated issues.” The situation of DREAM Act students is just such a complicated issue which requires the common-sense, practical solution of deferred action. Thank you for your support of the DREAM Act and for considering our request that you grant deferred action to individuals who would be eligible for the DREAM Act. Sincerely, Senator Dick Durbin Senator Richard Lugar