“In dreams, immigration officials rushed in and arrested me,” said Ju H. “I woke up sweating. My heart was pounding.”

Eyes tearing, the 20-year-old immigrant without citizenship documents from South Korea and current community college student in the San Francisco Bay Area continued telling his story to advocates, lawmakers and students at a crowded Capitol summit in Sacramento on Wednesday.

He described barriers to federal and state help for himself and others like him seeking education at four-year institutions. The walls to such schooling would fall with passage of the federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, first introduced in Congress in 2001.

The bipartisan legislation was re-introduced in March 2009 in the 111th Congress as S. 729 and H.R. 1751. This proposed bill would allow tens of thousands of students whose undocumented parents brought them to the United States, where they grew up, attended schools and worked, to access many forms of financial aid to achieve the “American Dream” of gaining a higher education degree and securing stable employment afterwards.

For example, the DREAM Act would amend current federal immigration law and allow states to grant residency status to undocumented youth who have graduated from high school. This, in turn would qualify such students for state college tuition, less costly than what non-residents pay.

In addition, the DREAM Act would allow these students to receive federal grants and be eligible for work-study programs at higher education institutions.

Speakers at the summit made clear the political obstacles to passing the DREAM Act.

“Today is a time of fierce anti-immigrant hysteria,” said State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-LA). “But I have optimism in spite of this with President Obama who ran on a platform of hope and change, plus a business community that understands the vital role of immigrants in the state economy.”

The expansion of an educated American work force itself is a policy of economic stimulus, the president has said.

Cedillo and his fellow lawmakers at the DREAM Act summit drew parallels between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which overcame discrimination against African Americans to the passage of the DREAM Act today.

“This is a continuing movement for civil rights,” said State Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach). State Senator Curren Price (D-LA), concurred with Cedillo and Furutani, noting the urgent need to remove barriers to higher education for undocumented students.

The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, and the Latino, Black and Asian Pacific Islander Legislative caucuses, sponsored the DREAM Act summit in Sacramento. According to the College Board, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools across the nation each year. In California alone, there are an estimated 26,000 undocumented youth, according to a 2006 Pew Foundation study.

They need allies to improve their educational opportunities after high school, said Kent Wong, an attorney, UCLA professor and director of the Center for Labor Research and Education. “These students were brought to this country through no decision of their own by parents and relatives looking for a better life,” he said.

The arc Wong described fits the life of Ju H. His mother, after a bankruptcy and divorce in South Korea, brought his sister and him to America nine years ago. He is studying political science and hopes to attend UC Berkeley in the future.

With the state budget deficit growing after the housing crash due to falling property and sales tax revenues, California lawmakers have hiked fees by double digits for students in the UC and California State University systems. With these costs rising, the dream of attending a state college or university could be fading fast for undocumented students with high school diplomas.

“We need your help in leadership roles to help us pass the DREAM Act in 2010,” said Ju H.

Seth Sandronsky lives and writes in Sacramento. Contact sandronsky@yahoo.com.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f55d7b4a0ad08eb5bc966f5712cb5a63

“Look at those illegals,” my friend said jokingly while he was dropping me off to the Bart Station. He pointed at two Mexican immigrants standing against the fence. Although it was a joke, I was extremely angry. Yet, I was defenseless and vulnerable. I simply laughed with him and stayed casual as if nothing happened. Once he dropped me off, I wondered if he would treat me differently if he knew that I’m also “illegal.”

I was born and raised in South Korea until I was 11. When I was in South Korea, the country was facing economic crisis. I remember our family had financial difficulties and we were in deep trouble. Soon after, our family filed bankruptcy. The following year, my mom and my dad divorced. With my mom and older sister, we were barely surviving in our home country, South Korea.

On July 25, 2001, we came to the United States to seek a better life. I was twelve years old. But once we arrived here, we faced a different set of challenges because of our immigration status.

As a single parent, it was hard for my mom to raise me and my sister. She works twelve hours a day, seven days a week, sacrificing her time and energy to support my education and provide food on the table each day. Almost every two months, she has to look for a different job because of her immigration status. She often looks exhausted and overwhelmed after work.

Like my mom, my sister works full-time. Until recently she attended community college at the same time but because of financial difficulties, she had to drop out. My sister had the chance to attend more prestigious colleges and universities. Instead, she is 24 years old and working two shifts at a restaurant, mopping floors, and washing dishes, while her friends are experiencing college life.

I also work at a restaurant and attend college full-time. While I feel fortunate to work, sometimes I feel humiliated working “under the table” and getting paid such low wages. It’s extremely difficult and frustrating, but it’s the only option for me to pay for college.

During my senior year in high school, I learned that my visa had expired and I was living here without documentation. While my friends talked about colleges, I worried about whether or not I could even go to college. Despite all my hard work in high school, I didn’t have access to educational opportunities that most people take for granted.

Being an Asian American undocumented student, it was especially challenging to come out from the shadow, because of the cultural taboo and social discrimination in my own community. This isolation led to periods of depression.

Worst of all, I’m afraid of being deported. I have nightmares about I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents knocking on the door to arrest my mom, sister, and me. I clearly remember one dream where I.C.E. agents chased after me in the darkness. As they surrounded me in a corner to arrest me, I woke up in a horror. I couldn’t go back to sleep. Every day, I search for a way out of these wicked nightmares.

One of the ways that I face my fear is that I’m speaking up.

Despite all the challenges I face, I’ve never given up my hopes of achieving higher education and living my dreams like everybody else.

Today, I have a 3.8 GPA and involve in many extra-curricular activities. I work hard and push myself to show that anything is possible in this country, despite my undocumented status. And I will continue to push myself to be a role model to other people, especially in the Asian American community.

There are thousands of Asian American undocumented students who are struggling to live a normal life just like me. Clearly, immigration is not only a Latino issue; it impacts everyone. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, about 11.6 million undocumented immigrants are living in this country. 1.2 million are Asian American. Moreover, a recent report by the University of California Office of the President revealed that 40 to 44 % of undocumented students in the UC system are Asian, of which 60% are Korean, 14% are Chinese, 10% are Filipino, 7% are Indian or Pakistani, 7% are Thai or other Asian descent.

Asian Americans are the second largest undocumented population, yet I believe we have not been as visible in fighting against discrimination and promoting immigration reform.

UCLA Labor Center, Kent Wong said, “These [undocumented] students risk themselves to speak out despite having no legal status and being subjugated to deportation, but greater risk is silence in the face of oppression and injustice!”

I knew I couldn’t just wait and hope for politicians to solve our problems. In spite of deportation, it is crucial that our voices get heard. We need to fight for our dreams that will determine our future. In this economic recession, immigrants and minorities will get the worst hit. However, we cannot simply give up and be silent.

How long do we have to wait for the immigration system to be fixed? Not long I’d say, if Latino, Asian American and others come out from the shadow and address this critical issue together. It is urgent us to erase old traditional cultural taboos and move forward.

Korean American community needs to stand up. Chinese American community needs to stand up. Vietnamese American community needs to stand up. Pakistani American community needs to stand up. Japanese American community needs to stand up. Indian American community needs to stand up. All Asian American communities need to stand up to fight and push comprehensive immigration reform to pass in 2010.

Don’t be silent or ashamed to talk about immigration or your lives; we need you more than ever before. Comprehensive immigration reform will pass only if we stand united as one.

2010 is going to be a special year. It will be the year that the immigration reform will pass and we can all begin a new chapter in our lives.

One of the comments said, Ju: I don’t understand. You willfully overstayed your visa. You violated the law, and committed a crime by you own admission. You are displaying bad manners and making thing worse for other Koreans who wish to “visit” the USA. I have no sympathy or respect for someone like you.

Other comment said, “What are you waiting for? Get the fuck out of here, faggot. Stop whining. Just leave and come back when you’re ready to do it the right way.

I wasn’t surprised due to the fact that I received these kinds of hateful comments on my entries. In fact, this is similar arguments that other anti-immigrant people claimed over again, again, and again. The criticism, which is I violated the law and committed a crime for these following reasons: overstayed visa and displaying bad manners to people who wish to visit the USA. These are the main arguments that I received from the critics time to time, but there is no strong content, facts, examples, or even statistics to back it up the arguments.

Before I tackle these arguments, I just want to say that I truly respect the law of this country, and always will. One of the arguments they claimed was that I violated the law and committed a crime because my visa had expired. This is a blunt argument without knowing any facts or background check. Obviously, there is a clear misconception of this argument. The truth is there are thousands of undocumented students who came to this country when we were young, without knowing about our immigration status. Most of them brought here by their parents at a very young age, as young as 1 or 2 year old. We had no choice but to follow our parent’s decision. Ever since then, we grew up here and hope to contribute back to the society. We speak perfect English, follow by the rule, and show great respect for our country. Matter of fact, we pay taxes too! One research show that the average of undocumented student’s GPA is 3.8, which is an outstanding academic performance. Also, most of the undocumented students graduate from high school with honors and served thousands of hours in the community. So what makes us perceived as criminals? How can you say we committed a crime when our only desire is to give back to our peers and the community? How can you say we violated the law when we brought here at the very young age without knowing anything about our immigration status? How can you say such things like go back to our own country when we grew up this country almost entire life? The facts and statistics are clear, we are not criminals. We are Americans.

The other argument was that I’m displaying “bad” manners (?) to people who wish to visit the USA. As you can clearly see that it doesn’t make sense at all. How do I display “bad” manners to people who wish to visit the USA? Are they trying to say that I’m cutting a line for immigrants to get in the USA? I truly understand how difficult for other immigrants who wish to come here. However, it has nothing to do with us. It’s rather serious matter of our broken immigration system. If we fix our current immigration system, we can help not only people who wish to come to the U.S., but also we can help 12 million undocumented immigrants who are denied basic rights. That is why we need to find possible solution to solve broken immigration system. Again, I will repeat that it has nothing to do with undocumented students. As I mentioned it before, these undocumented students brought here by our parents without knowing about immigration status. They grew up here just like normal kids and they followed by the rule. Maria Elena Durazo once said, “They (undocumented students) have done what society has asked of them: they have worked hard, studied hard, and have obtained educational success in spite of tremendous obstacles. Now it is society’s turn to do the right thing.” Like I said, we didn’t have a choice when we were young, we simply brought here by our parents. So instead of blaming on 12 million undocumented immigrants, we need to find possible solution and fix the broken immigration system in a logical way. Of course, we have to pay the fine, learn how to speak English, and respect the law of this country. We are simply demanding for a chance to be legalized in this country. We must pass comprehensive immigration now!

Remember, we are a nation of immigrants.

There are 16 million children in immigrant families in the United States, one of the fastest-growing segments of the population. It’s an old American story made new in the age of globalization, when waves of human displacement in recent decades have led to immigration on a scale not seen since Ellis Island. But a country that has been so good for so long at integrating new Americans is stumbling under the challenge.

That is the conclusion of Professors Marcelo and Carola Suárez-Orozco, fellows at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and co-directors of immigration studies at New York University. They have done basic research in immigration for more than 20 years, five of them studying 400 children from China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Central America and Mexico.

The results of their research, released this month, show the stark effects of what Marcelo Suárez-Orozco calls “the age of global vertigo.” Dislocation breeds a host of difficulties, starting with family separation. Nearly half of the children in their sample had at some point lost contact with one or both parents, either through migration directly or through divorce or death. The absent parent was most often the father for long stretches or permanently. For 49 percent of the Central American children, separations lasted more than five years.

The children from separated families were, perhaps unsurprising, more likely to show signs of depression. Those symptoms were often accompanied by poverty, isolation and — despite an early period of hopefulness and engagement — a downward academic slide. Immigrant children lagged in mastering standard academic English, the passport to college and to brighter futures. Whereas native-born children’s language skills follow a bell curve, immigrants’ children were crowded in the lower ranks: More than three-quarters of the sample scored below the 85th percentile in English proficiency.

There is clearly a need for policies and programs to support immigrant parents and children, but the reality is as haphazard and tenuous as these children’s lives often are. Millions are growing up in mixed families, with some members here illegally, others not. Bills to help immigrant families with a path to legalization have died repeatedly in Congress, and small-scale reforms like the Dream Act, a path to college or the military for children of illegal immigrants have been stymied for years. New investments in language education, citizenship preparation and after-school and preschool programs have been derailed by economic crisis, harsh immigration politics and a general lack of attention.

This is the great challenge that is forgotten in the heat of the immigration debate. The children of immigrants are Americans. “They” are “us,” a cohort of newcomers who will be filling the demographic void left as the baby boomers start fading away. Their future is our country’s future. The job of integrating them is not only unfinished but in many critical ways has hardly begun.

When his mother told him that he and his family are undocumented immigrants, Ju Hong was devastated.

The East Bay teen’s seemingly normal childhood had been darkened overnight by a sad fact of which he had been blissfully unaware. Like millions of American immigrants, he learned, his mother fled economic desperation in her country for the United States. Like many others, she overstayed her visa with the hope of attaining citizenship for herself and her children. She never reached that goal.

Today — nearly a decade after settling in the Bay Area — Hong is a productive, law-abiding resident who desperately wants American citizenship. But until he gets it, he will be pushed — like other undocumented immigrants — to live in the shadows. He also risks deportation.

“I have a life that’s a daily lie,” said Hong, a student at a Bay Area college. “Emotionally, I’m drained because any day anything can happen to me.”

But instead of playing the victim, Hong is actively trying to find a solution. The answer, he believes, lies in improving immigration laws. With that goal in mind, he spoke last week at a Santa Clara rally, telling the crowd his life story and why the need for immigration reform is greater than ever. He then joined nearly 1,000 people in a march that ended at Santa Clara University.

Hong also joined more than 300 people from nearly 30 states last month in Washington, D.C. There, he attended a Citizenship Day rally. He also met with congressional aides, asking them to support the Dream Act, proposed federal legislation that would ease the path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

It was Hong’s first trip to the nation’s capital. He made the journey with the help of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), a national cultural and civil rights organization, and the Los Angeles-based Korean Resource Center.

Sookyung Oh, a NAKASEC official, said she hopes the students’ experience improves their understanding of what citizenship really means.

“Not just the legal definition of citizenship, but also the idea of giving service to a community and making it a better place,” Oh said. “We want to redefine citizenship as an action rather than a status.”

Some critics of undocumented immigrants argue that their illegal status undermines the regular citizenship process, and that they take jobs that legal citizens might hold.

However, Hong said all he wants is the freedom to give back to the country he calls his true home.

“My intention is to contribute to society, to work to boost the nation’s economy,” he said. “We’re not criminals; we’re striving to get an education and to make contributions to society.”

Hong is hopeful that the proposed Dream Act one day will provide him a path to citizenship, removing the biggest obstacle to him reaching his full potential. In the meantime, Hong hopes to use his new leadership role to help find solutions that benefit the country and its immigrants from all backgrounds.

“I want one day to get my law degree and maybe work in government,” he said. “I’d like to help others like me. I’d like to help those who are in my situation.”

When you watch the news like CNN or FOX, they portray majority of Latino community as “illegal” and “undocumented” people. That’s one way of conservative media creates scare tactic to blame everything on Latino immigrants. But is it true that this is only Latino issue? Well, Latino community has a predominant population of undocumented immigrants, but does that mean it’s only Latino issue? I don’t think so. Then where is the Asian American Community in this picture? The research shows that there are about 2.0 million Asian undocumented immigrants are living in this country. That’s a big chunk of Asian undocumented immigrants. But why is that Asian American undocumented immigrants are so invisible? Is it because they are not aware of this issue? Whatever reason it might be, this stereotype of “Latino only” has definitely affected me both positive and negative way.

I think that the positive side of “Latino only” put API immigrants in a safer zone, where they don’t need to worry about their immigration status as much as Latino immigrants. Don’t get me wrong, API undocumented immigrants are facing enormous challenges but the circumstances are much different than Latino undocumented immigrants. It’s mainly because the people usually weight on Latino Immigrants as “illegal.” They would never think of API immigrants as “illegal” or “undocumented.” This stereotype indeed creates deception to Latino community. In addition, this stereotype of “Latino Only” creates assumption of Latino is only illegal and put them into jeopardy. In contrast to Latino community, API undocumented immigrants are less likely to be discriminated and targeted as “undocumented.”

On the other hand, the negative side is that API students are even more afraid to come out from the shadow. I think it’s because API immigrants are afraid of being discriminated in their own community. For example, it is ashamed to talk about immigration status in the Korean American Community because Korean American people tend to have a social class as well. For instance, my mother was discriminated against one of Korean American citizens because of her immigration status. It is true that most of Korean American community “categories” you and treat you as inferior being if you are undocumented. But let me be clear, this doesn’t mean every Korean American people think this way. Finally, the stereotype of “Hispanic Only” hinders API undocumented immigrants to come out from the public and harder for them to talk about current immigration system.

This is not a Latino issue. This is a nation-wide issue.

Author: Prerna Lal

Original Article

[This week's DREAM Act guest post comes from Jamie, who already has a BA and an important message of social change and action for all of us. Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the DREAM Act].

I was brought here like many other undocumented students at a young age. My sister and I lived in East LA for a short time until we moved to a better part of Los Angeles. Unlike some others, I did know about my legal status from a very young age. Because of this situation, I was constantly living in fear of being exposed and was very shy as a result of it. I can truly say that living in the shadows of society has an effect psychologically. It feels like I am always hiding something from people that I wish I didn’t have to. Despite these challenges I still have the ambition to prove to myself and others that we Dreamers can still get ahead in life.

I have noticed throughout this time that not only am I in the same situation as many others but I also have built the same character as them. We share the same ambitions to prove wrong to those that doubt us, to be something more than a stereotype we have been portrayed in the media. I learned to stop feeling sorry for myself and pick myself up from this mental prison we have all been placed in. Ironically in many ways it has made me stronger to deal with challenges in life. My hope is that it doesn’t beat me to the ground.

The DREAM Act is currently the only hope we all have. Thanks to Senators like Richard Durbin (IL), we have a voice. Although I have a college degree and a mind that rivals others, it is standing idle. I can’t get a job; I can’t get an ID or travel outside the country. It’s the things that are taken for granted that affect my life the most. I am tired of seeing my “legal” friends move on in life to better jobs, new experiences, and better opportunities while I watch them go. In the past years the DREAM Act has failed several times and each time our hope has been brought down.

This time I am taking action and I urge all others to do the same. We can’t stand aside and watch the opposition make calls to senators and get active while we stand around and feel sorry for ourselves. Action is the word to live by, nothing in history has been changed without someone taking action. So we must do the same and make the calls, send the emails, etc. I urge everyone to get up and do anything they can because I believe this time it is the last time we can really make a change.

Unfortunately, one of the resolutions was supporting AB540 but it has failed miserably by the majority of vote.

I was in a small room (cage setting) with group of students and several I.C.E (immigration Custom Enforcement) officials. One of the ICE officials shouted out loud, “Show me your identification!” Few students quickly stood up and showed their identification. I was one of the few students who couldn’t show my identification. I felt miserable. I began to panic as one of the officials looked at me furiously. He was ready to arrest me. But right before he was ready to arrest me, one of the students screamed and protest against the ICE. I took that advantage of distraction and ran away from ICE.

I didn’t know where I was going, but I kept running. When I turned around, I saw three ICE officials chasing after me in a close distance. I was burst into tears while I was running. My entire body was shaking and sweating, but I kept running. After endless hours of running, I ended up hiding in the below level of constructional building, alone. But few minutes later, ICE found me. I tried to run away from them but it was too late. I was terrified.  At the moment when they tried to hand-cuff me, I woke up with horror.

I couldn’t sleep until then.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about 2.5 million undocumented youth under the age of 18 live in the U.S.  About 40% of these students live in California.

In the University of California (UC) system, Asian undergraduates make up 40-44% of the undocumented student population (2006-2007). Of these undergraduates:

60% are Korean 7% are Indian or Pakistani

14% are Chinese         7% are Thai or other Asian descent

10% are Filipino         1% are Pacific Islanders

1% are Japanese         1% are Vietnamese