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 Post subject: Indiana's DREAM Act Hunger-Strikers
PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:42 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:30 pm
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Be sure to click the link so you can see the photos, especially the ones the DREAMers created that say such things as, "Learn Spanish," and "Europeans do not enter. Latinos only." And read the great comments!

http://www.indystar.com/article/2010120 ... -residency

They have a dream -- of permanent residency
Local group joins hunger strike for bill to aid children brought to U.S. illegally

12:46 AM, Dec 5, 2010 | 136Comments

Written by
Bill McCleery

Isaias Guerrero, 26, graduated from the University of Indianapolis in 2009 with degrees in sociology and international relations. A native of Colombia, he would like to stay in Indianapolis, find work with a nonprofit organization and perhaps raise a family.

He also is one of a dozen Indianapolis members of the Latino/a Youth Collective participating in a hunger strike in support of passage of the federal Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act -- better known as the DREAM Act.

The legislation would enable those who were brought to the United States as children younger than 15 to gain "conditional permanent resident status" if they graduated from high school, obtained a GED or gained acceptance to a college.

The bill stipulates that those granted such a status must have come to the United States at least five years before the date of the bill's passage. People up to age 35 are eligible if they meet the criteria, which include having never been convicted of crimes or being considered a security risk.

"That would be the greatest gift," said Guerrero, who has not visited his native Colombia in 10 years.
Indiana's two U.S. senators, Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Richard Lugar, supported an earlier version of the bill, as did U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. A Lugar spokesman said the bill underwent some revision last week, which could change its level of support.

The hunger strike, which started locally Monday, has about 30 participants statewide and hundreds nationally, said Kathy Souchet-Moura, 30. The activists plan to go hungry until the bill passes or the current congressional session ends, she said.

"We've consulted with nutritionists and are making sure to get the necessary vitamins and calories we need through liquids," she said.

Souchet-Moura said she saw the effects of current immigration laws on children when she worked in public schools several years ago as a member of AmeriCorps.

"I met several examples of (undocumented) kids who became discouraged in high school and quit trying very hard," she said, "because all they saw ahead of them was hardship in trying to go to college and get jobs. If the DREAM legislation passed, it would help those kids get more motivated to complete their high school career and go to college or the military."
She hopes the bill will not get bogged down in the heated rhetoric that has characterized immigration debates in the past.

"I see it more as an education initiative than just being about immigration," she said.
Souchet-Moura said the bill would help provide a path to permanent resident status for about 1.2 million people now in the U.S.

Nationally, critics of the bill have said it affects a larger number of immigrants living in the United States -- about 2 million, according to statements made by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to CNN. He said the bill is designed to further the cause of amnesty for "illegals."
Other critics have complained that there have been no hearings on the DREAM Act and that members of Congress have not seen the text of the legislation, suggesting that passing it before Congress adjourns would amount to rushing it into law without sufficient deliberation.

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083.


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