Dreamers, we stand with you. We embrace you. We defend you. We see you. We fight for you. We love you. We thank you. We are you.
'We do this because the world we live in is a house on fire and the people we love are burning.' – Sandra Cisneros.
To target Dreamers is wrong because these individuals have done nothing wrong; they are “Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper,” to quote President Barack Obama.
No human being is illegal. Undocumented, yes. Illegal, no. We must be willing to put our bodies on the line for the safety, sanity and success of Dreamers, people like Luis, who tweeted this upon news of Trump’s decision to rescind DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the program that protects over 800,000 young immigrants from deportation who were brought to the United States as children. "I am a DACA recipient, this is my life on the line. I know nothing else but Texas. I have nothing else anywhere. #DefendDACA.” This is their country, their people, their culture, their language, their place, their home, as much as it our own. And people’s lives and livelihoods are on the line in an immediate, perilous manner.
Dreamers contribute in massive, ongoing, tangible ways to a stronger, more perfect American society and economy; they study, work, raise families, live, pay, fight, serve, teach, you name it. Yet people’s lives and livelihoods are now on the line in an immediate, perilous manner.
DACA does not weaken our country; Trump’s proclamation weakens America, our ideals, our morals, our vision, our dream.
This "is about adapting an inadequate immigration system to current needs,” to employ the words of my best friend, proud immigrant and powerful writer, Cristina Lopez G. Laws must evolve to serve a just society.
Who are we? Who do we want to be? Who will we become? Stand up and raise our collective voice to call upon Congress to act immediately, to choose heart and reason over senseless cruelty, to permanently defend the status of Dreamers, to protect our nation, our values, our future.
Comments