Dream Act

The story I posted up yesterday is a story I wrote last year in my Latino club. You may have heard of May 1st being the day Latinos protest. At Evergreen High School the Latino club known as ALAS decided to take the challenge and do a silent protest without having to walk out. We bought white and black shirts with the words dream in Spanish in the back which was Sueno. And we also wanted to inform other students about the Dream Act. For us to be able to do this we had to let the HS3 staff members know what was going on and inform them as well. Our Advisor Brenda Espinoza had us research the Dream Act so we can prepare our speeches, and had a couple group members write stories about how immigration is effecting them. The day before May 1st after school we got up in front of all HS3 staff members and we began describing the Dream Act. The Dream Act is a proposal that was being introduced to the US Congress. This bill would provide millions of immigrant children the opportunity to receive a US Residency only for those who have arrived in the US since before the age of 16, who is between the ages 12 and 35 at the time the law is enacted, must have resided in the US for 5 constant years since their arrival year, Must have graduated from a High school or received a GED, and must have a clean criminal record. After six years with their temporary residency, they may earn a permanent residency. Meaning they have to attend college and earn at least a two year degree or serve in the US military for two years. After completing that they will be granted a permanent residency which then leads to US citizenship. After we informed the staff member with all this information, we began sharing our stories. I never knew it can get this emotional, as I looked at the staff they were in tears. I remember most of my friends including me couldn't even finish reading the stories, we would break down in the middle of them. Finally we told the teachers how most of us have the same fear, which is coming home to an empty house, finding out our parents were being deported, that's the fear that not only Latinos but immigrant's children have in common. We explained to the staff that they can help us out in buying a shirt to wear on May 1st with us. All the teachers bought one which made us very happy knowing they supported us. After our presentation was all over staff and students were still in tears, I remember one teacher saying "I never imagined you guys as the cheerleader, ASB officers, football players, soccer captain, students in general would be going through this, I'm sorry but I cant look at you guys in your eyes knowing what you're going through"