Last month, after a quick, quiet, morning vote approving approximately $600,000,000.00 in border security funding, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office issued a statement calling for “comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, cracks down on unscrupulous employers, and requires those here illegally to get right with the law, learn English, pay taxes, pass criminal background checks, and go to the back of the line.”

A week-or-so later, Congressman Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) echoed Senator Reid: “We have to know who’s here. They have to register. They have to pay a fine. They have to have a background check. They have to be law-abiding, working; and I think those people get in the back of the line and are given the opportunity to earn legalization.”

Thus, what was once a “path to citizenship” for unauthorized immigrants living in the United States became, for a time, “earned citizenship.” Now, it seems the language of legalization has again shifted to a “back of the line” citizenship.

So, what is back of the line citizenship? No one I talk to seems to know (or at least, is willing to discuss) anything specific about the changing terms of extending citizenship to the estimated 12-14 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States. However, the legalization side of comprehensive immigration reform indicates that legislative decisions may be underway regarding what “the line” for documentos might look like.

There is very little doubt that some form of citizenship program will be extended to the estimated 12-14 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. However, some things to keep in mind:

• The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that “About three-quarters (76%) of the nation’s unauthorized immigrants are Hispanic. The majority of undocumented immigrants (59%) are from Mexico.”
• The Pew Hispanic Center also estimates that “a growing share of the children of unauthorized immigrant parents–73%–were born in this country and are U.S. citizens.” According to Pew’s analysis of the most-recent Census data, “An estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the offspring of unauthorized immigrants.”
• While I find no current estimates regarding the professional skillsets of unauthorized immigrants, it seems reasonable to assume that a large majority of unauthorized immigrants — particularly those from Latin America — are unskilled laborers.

In short, the unauthorized immigrants currently living in the Unites States are overwhelmingly Latin American, are probably Spanish-speaking (or even, do not necessarily speak English), are often parents of U.S. citizens, and are difficult to employ legally in this brutal economic clime for unskilled laborers. This last point may be the key to understanding the shifting political language toward a back of the line citizenship.

In May, a report issued by the House Joint Economic Council (JEC) found that:

• “Latinos are…over-represented in two other sectors that were hit hard during this recession: the manufacturing sector and the leisure and hospitality sector. Manufacturing employment fell by 16 percent and employment in the leisure and hospitality sector fell by 4 percent from December 2007 to December 2009. In 2007, 11.6 percent of the Hispanic workforce was employed in the manufacturing sector compared to 11.2 percent of the overall population, and 11.8 percent of the Hispanic workforce was employed in leisure and hospitality sector compared to 8.5 percent of the overall population.”
• “In 2007, Latinos were under-represented in the only sector that expanded during the recession, the education and health services sector. In 2007, 21 percent of the labor force was employed in the education and health services sector compared to 14.4 percent of the Latino workforce.”

The JEC report did not discuss immigration status. However, again, it is reasonable to assume unauthorized immigrants (like Latinos, generally) are overrepresented in the shrunken unskilled labor pool; and underrepresented in the expanded education and health services sector. In other words, like Latinos, generally, unauthorized immigrants now tend to be employable in all the wrong places and at the wrong time.

So, how does all of this relate to back of the line citizenship?

A responsible path to citizenship (or whatever you want to call it) is one that takes into the account the effects an infusion of 12-14 million largely unskilled workers (including, potentially, many non-English-speakers) will have on overall U.S. employment economy. As it stands, “illegals steal jobs from Americans” because unauthorized immigrants tend to be more-willing to work for lower wages and fewer (if any) benefits than their documented, citizen counterparts. This is especially in the unskilled employment economy.

With the job market for unskilled workers contracting — particularly in the construction, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors where Latinos are overrepresented but nevertheless represent far less than a majority of workers — where can the economy employ 12-14 million new, largely-unskilled citizens? Can the economy currently employ 12-14 million new, largely-unskilled citizens, at all? Unfortunately, the answer seems to be no, the U.S. economy cannot current employ unauthorized immigrants as citizens. Citizens are compensated at or above a guaranteed, minimum wage; protected by employment and workplace safety standards, etc. In short, citizens are more-expensive than illegals.

That said, while I have yet to find anyone to confirm that this is the case (no one wants to talk path to citizenship this election season), my thought is that the term back of the line citizenship serves a twofold purpose –

A POLITICAL TERM: To go to the back of the line hearkens a punishment for children who misbehave. As a term, “back of the line” also carries with it denigrating racial undertones rooted in America’s past. In terms of political messaging, the term back of the line works to assure a frustrated non-Latino electorate that unauthorized immigrant criminals will be punished and that they will remain second-class residents until the needs of a more-deserving (or at least, more-legitimate) “front of the line” immigrant group has been satisfied.

A POLICY CLUE: Back of the line implies a waiting period during which the rest of “the line” is processed through the complex, draconian, “broken” immigration system the comprehensive immigration reform bill is (in theory) supposed to overhaul. How will “the line” be formed? What criteria will be used to determine who is at the front and who must wait? As it stands, is likely that these questions will go unanswered at least until after the midterm elections in November. Nevertheless, employment economics will likely be an essential feature of policy discussions about legalizing the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States. While preference may be given to the parents of citizen children, and English-language fluency will likely be non-negotiable prerequisite, expect skilled laborers to receive a preferential hat-tip in the naturalization process. Unskilled & unauthorized immigrants, on the other hand, may necessarily face an indefinite wait at the “back of the line” for an economic recovery that can sustain their legal entry into an U.S. unskilled labor economy that remains as stagnant as it is brutally unsentimental.

Photo Credit: Amnesty Oath, 1865, by Pablo Manriquez

Last week a new coalition, Latinos for Internet Freedom “LIF”, was formed to fight for internet freedom and to support the concept of net neutrality. Over 40 local and national groups comprise this coalition from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to more local groups like the New Mexico Media Literacy Project and CARECEN. These groups realize that our livelihood depends on an open and free internet that allows us to communicate, organize, and challenge the traditional propaganda machines.

If you notice, some of our community’s most prominent or noted civil rights organizations have not joined the newly formed LIF coalition. Notably absent are NCLR, MALDEF, and LULAC. However, this should not be a big surprise since big telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon tend to be high level donors to these organizations. But since many of the grassroots organizations do work that fits in line with and supports the stated goals of the larger Latino organizations, I would hope that they (the holy trinity of NCLR, MALDEF, and LULAC) will eventually join this fight.

I was able to ask Roberto Lovato of Presente.org about the absence of some of these larger Latino civil rights organizations from the net neutrality fight, and he offered this:

“The response to our launch of the Latinos for Internet Freedom coalition has been overwhelming. Latinos and non-Latinos from across the country have stepped to say they want to keep the internet as open and free from the excessive greed and control of extremely powerful corporations. These same corporations that have, over the past 10 years, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to influence “opinion leaders” and “civil rights” organizations. That so many leaders and organizations have joined our fight despite the attempts to buy Latino opinion speaks well of these leaders and organizations- and of our cause. Other leaders “brillan por su ausencia”, they shine for their absence against the dark cloud of corporate control looming over the internet. The conspicuous silence of some “civil rights leaders” around network neutrality, an issue at the core of the civil and human rights struggles of the present and future, provides, I believe, an opportunity for the courage and conviction of the brave new leaders of the Latino community to shine forth. Digital age activists like LIF members  Amalia Deloney of the Center for Media Justice, Andrea Quijada of the Media Literacy Project and Steven Renderos of the Main Street Project stand to inherit and redefine what were the civil rights struggle of the industrial age civil rights organizations. They are at the heart of Latinos for Internet Freedom.

To my knowledge, Janet Murguia and the Natonal Council of La Raza have remained neutral about network neutrality.”

If you want to preserve the free and open internet that allows you to go where you want to when you get online, please take action here and consider voicing your concern to Latino oriented organizations who are not yet taking a stand in the net neutrality fight.

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Lizbeth Mateo and I am undocumented. On May 17th, on the 56th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, I, along with Mohammad Abdollahi, Yahaira Carrillo and two others, became the first undocumented students to risk deportation by staging a sit-in inside Senator McCain’s office in Tucson, Arizona, to demand the immediate passage of the DREAM Act. As a result of that sit-in we were arrested, turned over to ICE, and we now face deportation.

I came to this country when I was fourteen-years-old from Oaxaca, Mexico.  It was the late nineties and Mexico was, and is still, facing one of the worst socio-economic and political periods in recent history. For my parents – a taxi driver and a stay-at-home-mom that were struggling to make ends meet-  it was clear that they would have to choose between seeing their children starve and get sick, or risk it all, leave everything behind and relocate the family to Southern California with hopes of a better future. In 1998 we moved to Los Angeles and have lived here, since. 

Their choice and sacrifice paid-off.  I didn’t only become the first one in my family to graduate from high school, but a couple of years ago I became the first one in my family to graduate from college. I graduated from California State University, Northridge and I am currently in the process of applying to law school. My dream is to become an attorney and defend the most vulnerable in the courts of law.

Life as an undocumented student has not been easy, it’s been filled with tough choices and a lot of uncertainty. At one point I felt like the only way to fulfill my dream of higher education was to leave my family behind and go back to Mexico. But California had become my home and so I chose to stay despite the uncertain future ahead. Against all odds I enrolled in college, and it was there that I first learned about the DREAM Act. From the moment I heard about this piece of legislation I decided to work hard and advocate for its passage. It’s now been seven years since that day and the DREAM Act has yet to become a reality.

Despite overwhelming support, Congress has been unwilling to pass the DREAM Act. It is because of that inaction that earlier this year I had to decide whether committing civil disobedience would be worth the risk of being forcibly separated from my family, and deported to a place I no longer consider home. I made a choice, forced in part by the lack of courage from our leaders in Congress and inspired by your call to change, the “change [that] will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.” Just as I had chosen to work on your campaign inspired by what you said, that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek,” I also chose to face my fears, to risk it all, to seek that change, and sit-in so that the DREAM Act could stand alone.

Some say that destiny is not a matter of chances but one of choices. My life and that of my fellow Dreamers has been filled with tough choices, some made by us and some made by others on our behalf. Two months after five of us chose to risk it all for our futures, because we knew that without the DREAM Act we had no future, twenty-one others chose to risk it all for a dream that belongs to us as much as it belongs to our families, our communities, and our home – the United States of America.

I firmly believe that we have made the right choice – to stand up for what we believe in and to try to fulfill the promise of the great American Dream that brought us here in the first place. I firmly believe that we, the undocumented youth, are standing on the right side of history. Now I ask that you stand with us by making the right choice. Help us pass the DREAM Act immediately. Help us free our DREAMs, which have for too long been held hostage to political rhetoric and insensitive choices by a few that have yet to recognize the potential that we have as young, educated people.

Mr. President, staying strong and facing my challenges with courage and dignity while I wait patiently is no longer an option, it’s no longer a choice I can make because I played the last card I had, and my time is running out. I put my life on the line in order to have a chance at a future out of the shadows. Now the DREAM Act is the only chance I have to stay home. Please help us pass the DREAM Act so that no more youth have to risk it all by putting their lives on the line.

Sincerely,
Lizbeth Mateo

The “DREAM Now” letter series is inspired by a similar campaign started by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  The letters are produced by Kyle de Beausset at Citizen Orange with the assistance of America’s Voice.  Every Monday and Wednesday DREAM-eligible youth will publish letters to the President, and each Friday there will be a DREAM Now recap. 

1. Sign the DREAM Act Petition
2. Join the DREAM Act Facebook Cause
3. Send a fax in support of the DREAM Act
4. Call your Senator and ask them to pass the DREAM Act now.
5. Email kyle at citizenorange dot com to get more involved

Below is a list of previous entries in the DREAM Now Series:

Mohammad Abdollahi (19 July 2010)
Yahaira Carrillo (21 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – Tell Harry Reid You Want the DREAM Act Now (23 July 2010)
Wendy (26 July 2010)
Matias Ramos (28 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – The CHC Has To Stand With Migrant Youth Not Against Us (30 July 2010)
Tania Unzueta (2 August 2010)
Marlen Moreno (4 August 2010)
Weekly Recap – The Ghost of Virgil Goode Possesses the Republican Party (9 August 2010)
David Cho (9 August 2010)
Ivan Nikolov (11 August 2010)
Yves Gomes (16 August 2010)
Selvin Arevalo (18 August 2010)
Weekly Recap – Latino, LGBT, Migrant Youth, and Progressive Bloggers Lead For the DREAM Act (20 August 2010)
Carlos A. Roa, Jr. (23 August 2010)
Myrna Orozco (25 August 2010)

Yet, there are cultural differences in the way the concept of excellence is approached that should be pointed out. For example, the Jewish tradition is noteworthy in explaining the constant demonstration and celebration of ‘excellence’. The Jewish concept of striving for excellence is inherently different than the Greek ‘arete’. The Greek concept, which we Latinos seem to emulate, is that every social class has its own icon of perfection and all should strive to be that perfect individual (in strength/beauty/intellect etc). Whereas in Judaism, according to Rabbinical thinking, one does not stress trying to be the pinnacle of strength/beauty/intellect etc. because these are God given gifts and it is not always within an individual’s capabilities to be the strongest, prettiest, smartest individual within a group. Rather, Judaism stresses utilizing those God given gifts to the limit of one’s ‘potential’.

One Rabbinical expert goes on to say: “A person may not be that intelligent, but if he utilizes his intelligence to the utmost limit of his capabilities – he is deemed to have reached perfection. Whereas the individual with far superior intelligence, who has authored many scholarly works, if his potential was even greater than that, and he could have pushed himself to the limit of his capability to become an even better person, he is deemed a less perfect person than the other fellow who did indeed utilize his capabilities to its fullest.” Hence, in Jewish culture it is often said: “do what your passion in life asks of you, but do your best and try to be the best if you can”. The renown accomplishments of Jewish achievers can readily be cited in any field: mathematics, literature, music, art, science, engineering, media, and commerce. This does not denote or suggest an inherently smarter or more biologically gifted ethnic group. What it underscores is their grand tradition of honoring and practicing the virtue of excellence within the scope of the individual’s potential. Hence, in the Judaic visualization of excellence, the challenge to achieve is not out of anyone’s reach since what it asks is for each one to be the best one can be.

While both the Western (Greek) and Jewish cultures strive for perfection, the not-so-subtle difference between the two cultures is telling. This difference should be a real consideration when Latino movers and shakers clamor or call for more achievement-oriented action among the Latino community. This is especially indispensable when seeking scholastic or secondary school and college completion. More importantly, the Latino community should ensure that ‘excellence’ translates into being the best each one can be, instead of chasing a model of perfection that emulates the idea of ideal perfection outside of what is possible. The pragmatism of demanding excellence in doing everything within one’s potential in daily activities should be part of the daily mind-set as well as the mantra.

On July 20th, 2010, I was arrested in the office of Senator John McCain fighting for the DREAM Act.

I am one of the thousands of students who would qualify for this legislation. I was brought to the United States at the age of four and have been here ever since. I consider myself to be a good student, and I always strive to be a good example for others. I have been waiting for the DREAM Act to pass since it was first introduced in 2001, and this year I decided that I couldn’t stand by and wait another year. I decided to fight for my DREAMs.

I can no longer watch as politicians gamble with my future and the futures of my friends, family, and even strangers who are in the same position as I am. This is why I, along with 20 other DREAMers, decided to take action and fight for what we believe is right; thus, we decided to conduct sit-ins at various senators offices and urge them to take action on the DREAM Act. We can not stand by as another class of outstanding students graduate without being able to fulfill their DREAMs.

I have been taught that America is the land of opportunity, yet I have been denied the opportunity to contribute back to society and continue with my education. I put my life on the line by participating in this action but I strongly believe it is worth it, because all I’m asking for is an opportunity to DREAM.

Because of the sit-in I have to return to Washington DC for my trial on October 1st, 2010. During the trial I will continue to fight for what I believe is right. I need to be able to make it back to DC for this date, however, I’m running out of funds. Please help me continue my fight so that I can make it back to DC for my trial on October first.

If I can’t make it by then, I’ll have a warrant for my arrest and the risk of deportation will be higher. I don’t want to go back to a country that I don’t know. America is my home, the country I would fight for, the country I would die for. Please help me remain with my family and friends. Please help me stay home.

Thank you so much for your contribution,

Myrna Orozco

NOTE: You can help Myrna by donating here:

The “DREAM Now” letter series is inspired by a similar campaign started by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  The letters are produced by Kyle de Beausset at Citizen Orange with the assistance of America’s Voice.  Every Monday and Wednesday DREAM-eligible youth will publish letters to the President, and each Friday there will be a DREAM Now recap. 

1. Sign the DREAM Act Petition
2. Join the DREAM Act Facebook Cause
3. Send a fax in support of the DREAM Act
4. Call your Senator and ask them to pass the DREAM Act now.
5. Email kyle at citizenorange dot com to get more involved

Below is a list of previous entries in the DREAM Now Series:

Mohammad Abdollahi (19 July 2010)
Yahaira Carrillo (21 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – Tell Harry Reid You Want the DREAM Act Now (23 July 2010)
Wendy (26 July 2010)
Matias Ramos (28 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – The CHC Has To Stand With Migrant Youth Not Against Us (30 July 2010)
Tania Unzueta (2 August 2010)
Marlen Moreno (4 August 2010)
Weekly Recap – The Ghost of Virgil Goode Possesses the Republican Party (9 August 2010)
David Cho (9 August 2010)
Ivan Nikolov (11 August 2010)
Yves Gomes (16 August 2010)
Selvin Arevalo (18 August 2010)
Weekly Recap – Latino, LGBT, Migrant Youth, and Progressive Bloggers Lead For the DREAM Act (20 August 2010)
Carlos A. Roa, Jr. (23 August 2010)

• Randy Parraz, the Latino candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Arizona, finished last. I commend him for trying, but it will be interesting to watch Rodney Glassman challenge John McCain, who ended up winning his primary after facing a tough challenge from a more conservative J.D. Hayworth. I actually met Glassman last month at Netroots Nation, and I must admit that he’s a pretty charming guy. Glassman likes to remind all of the Latinos that Congressman Grijalva and Dolores Huerta have endorsed him. I can’t wait to see him juxtaposed to McCain. Hopefully, they debate just so we can have that visual of the young, energetic Glassman next to the cranky, nearly 74 year old McCain. But Glassman still has an uphill battle.

• A report recently came out by the Center for Responsible Lending that shows in California, Latinos borrowers constitute nearly half of all foreclosures in the state. The Central Valley has the highest concentration of foreclosures. I had blogged about the foreclosure crisis in relation to the Latino community last year in a two part blog post here and here if you are interested.

• Last week, Mario Obledo, one of the founders of MALDEF and then Governor Jerry Brown’s head of the California Health and Welfare Agency during the 1970s died of a heart attack at age 78.

• President Obama is scheduled to be in El Paso, Texas on August 31. Given the President’s increasing deportation rate and militarization of the border, I see how this event could be an opportunity for the community to voice concern.

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Carlos and I’m a 23 year old undocumented immigrant from Caracas, Venezuela.  I want to legalize my immigration status in this country through the passage of DREAM Act this year.  For too long have I lived in the U.S. without papers.  It has been over 20 years, now.  I want to legalize my immigration status in order to fulfill my dreams of becoming a young professional in architecture.

Randy Parraz entered the Democratic race in late April challenging the establishment candidate Rodney Glassman right after SB 1070 was passed. Parraz has a history in community organizing, working in labor and civil rights. He assisted in establishing the National Strawberry Commission for Workers Rights for strawberry pickers and was recently the Arizona State Director for the National AFL-CIO.

The Arizona Bilingual Magazine has a pretty comprehensive biography of Randy Parraz in its July issue. One point that I think is compelling about Parraz is that he has the academic credentials to go toe to toe with the establishment pols. Worth noting:

“Who is Randy Parraz? The quick answer to this question is that Parraz is the real deal, a civil and labor rights activist who has a proven record of fighting for our community.

There’s something about making your mama proud, about seeing her filled with pride after all her hard work for your future pays off at your college graduation. Randy graduated not just once, but three times from the nation’s top universities!

After completing his undergraduate work at UC Berkeley, Randy went to get his law degree from one of the most prestigious law schools in the nation, the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley. As if this wasn’t enough, Randy then attended and graduated from the nation’s top school, Harvard University, with a Masters degree from the John F.Kennedy School of Government.

It was at Harvard that Randy Parraz first met Cesar Chavez, and little did he know how much his future work would continue what Chavez had started. Even though a world of wealth awaited someone with such a distinguished educational background, with degrees from both Berkeley and Harvard, Randy decided to use his knowledge to fight for justice for the hard-working American.”

In recent weeks, Parraz has been gaining in the polls with a large portion of Democratic voters still undecided. As of a few weeks ago, polling in the primary race between Glassman and Parraz was considered a dead heat.

However, given the current political climate in Arizona and the surging popularity of Governor Jan Brewer who signed into law SB 1070, which Parraz does not support, he’s going to have an uphill climb if he wins tomorrow to fight for this senate seat in the general election. A recent Rasmussen poll shows Governor Brewer ahead of her opponent by over 15 percentage points and 66% of Arizonans supporting the controversial immigration law. I was able to communicate with the Parraz campaign and ask them how they anticipate overcoming this challenge should their candidate win tomorrow, and I was offered this by Parraz’s campaign manager Michael Trujillo:

“While SB 1070 polls well, that has more to do with people not knowing what the law really means. Further, those who do support SB1070 do so tacitly, but immigration isn’t their top issue. It’s not even in their top 5 typically. Compare that to those who oppose SB 1070. These voters have immigration reform as one of the top 2-3 issues – so they are more motivated to turn out. In this group there are a lot of voters not being polled – those who do not have land lines, young people, etc – and these numbers are not insignificant.

McCain used to get 40-50% of Latino voters, that number will be shot down to 10% if Randy is the nominee.

The real issues are jobs and education – two issues that McCain can’t even talk about – his track record of 24 years of lackluster attention to AZ has come to bite the state in the rear-end. Those who voted for a Maverick in 08 are turned off by the say-anything-do-anything candidate that McCain has now become.

Once a sponsor of CIR [comprehensive immigration reform], even dismissing the notion of a border fence three years ago, he switched to a hardline stance on southern border security. McCain supported the repeal of DADT, but in May he promised to filibuster any changes in policy – despite recommendations from top military officials that DADT harms our military’s effectiveness. McCain used to be a champion for climate legislation. He’s backed off that. And finally, the same McCain who sponsored legislation to reign in the influence of money on elections has spent $20M on his primary campaign alone.

Randy will be campaigning energetically in every town between now and Nov, turning Independents and Republicans disgusted with McCain and the direction of their party into Parraz voters.”

So keep your eye on this race tomorrow, and if you are in Arizona (or not), feel free to chime in and let us know what you think about this primary. If you want to hear more about Randy Parraz, I encourage you to check out these clips below:

By Kyle de Beausset

The “DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama” is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service.  With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!

It’s been one month since the DREAM Now Series started, and it’s been far more successful than I had ever imagined.  DREAM Now Letters have been cross-posted and mentioned by a wide selection of bloggers.  Those blog posts, in turn, have been viewed, shared and retweeted tens of thousands of times.

As always when it comes to pro-migrant blogging, Latin@ blogs are at the vanguard led mostly by the strong and talented Latina bloggers at Latino Politics Blog, Latina Lista, and Vivir Latino.  Time and time again, Adriana Maestas, Maegan “La Mamita Mala” Ortiz, and Marisa Treviño have stood on the side of migrant youth when few others would.  They have gone above and beyond in cross-posting the letters of migrant youth.

It is within the pro-migrant online spaces largely created by Latin@s that undocumented youth bloggers have been able to thrive, connect, and organize.  Though I haven’t had as much time to reach out to DREAMers to cross-post these letters online, and many DREAMers are too busy organizing to blog and tweet these days, I love that both of the migrant youth blogs Life By DREAM and Migrant Headlines have been cross-posting the DREAM Now Letters, regularly.

There’s a new group of pro-migrant bloggers that have recently been added to this coalition for the DREAM Act.  As any migrant youth leader will tell you, just as racism is inextricable from nativism, so is the LGBT movement inextricable from the migrant youth movement.  A disproportionate number of migrant youth leaders identify as queer.

So while national immigration reform groups have sometimes made the “strategic” decision to downplay LGBT immigration concerns in order to appeal to the religious right, that has simply never been an option for the migrant youth movement.  Doing so would mean neglecting the very souls of some of our strongest leaders: among them Mario Rodas, Mohammad Abdollahi, Tania Unzueta, and Yahaira Carrillo.

That’s why I’m happy to report that the decision to model these DREAM Now Letters after a similar campaign by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to raise awareness around repealing the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy has been graciously received.  Above all, the greatest honor of this campaign, has been the fact that Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend has been consistently front-paging the DREAM Now Letters.  Pam is easily one of the best bloggers on the web and her support of the DREAM Now Letters is huge.  Finally, a lasting symbol of the unity between the migrant youth movement and the LGBT movement will always be the demonstrations by both Lt. Dan Choi and four DREAMers during Harry Reid’s speech at Netroots Nation.

Last but not least, the broader progressive blogosphere has also been supporting the DREAM Now Letters in a way that would have been unthinkable only a couple of years ago.  Crooks and Liars has been leading the Progressive blogosphere with their support of the DREAM Now Letters. Daily Kos has linked to DREAM Now Letters diaries on their front-page.  While Firedoglake has not front-paged any DREAM Now Letters, FDL has consistently been the mainstream progressive blog that is most supportive of migrant youth through their publication original pro-migrant content. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the progressive blogosphere.  Progressive blogs, arguably, have the largest audience that needs to be educated about the DREAM Act.

Now is not the time to fall off.  A month has gone but we still have as much as a month and a half to go before we have a chance at getting a vote on the DREAM Act.  The DREAM Now Letters have become crucial in flooding the internet with content about the DREAM Act and informing others who otherwise might not have heard of it.  I have a to do a better job at both consistency and outreach, and I’ve think I’ve started to get to a point where that’s going to be easier for me to do.  Any and all help from others is appreciated.

Below is a list of everyone who has consistently published or linked to DREAM Now Letters.

DREAM Letters Publishers:
America’s Voice
Crooks and Liars
Culture Kitchen
Democracia Ahora
Docudharma Doing My Part For The Left
Latina Lista
Latino Politics Blog
Life By DREAM
Migrant Headlines My Latino News
Nuestra Voice
Pam’s House Blend
The Kite
Vivir Latino

DREAM Letters Mentions:
Change.org
Daily Kos
Deportee’s Wife
Hispanic tips
House of Grant
Imagine 2050
Immigration Talk With A Mexican American
La Frontera Times
Michigan Liberal
Michigan Messenger
Mom’s Rising
Mother Talkers
Para Justicia Y Libertad
PolitiFi
Regator
Restore Fairness
Roots Wire
TV Realist

The “DREAM Now” letter series is inspired by a similar campaign started by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  The letters are produced by Kyle de Beausset at Citizen Orange with the assistance of America’s Voice.  Every Monday and Wednesday DREAM-eligible youth will publish letters to the President, and each Friday there will be a DREAM Now recap.

1. Sign the DREAM Act Petition
2. Join the DREAM Act Facebook Cause
3. Send a fax in support of the DREAM Act
4. Call your Senator and ask them to pass the DREAM Act now.
5. Email kyle at citizenorange dot com to get more involved

Below is a list of previous entries in the DREAM Now Series:

Mohammad Abdollahi (19 July 2010)
Yahaira Carrillo (21 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – Tell Harry Reid You Want the DREAM Act Now (23 July 2010)
Wendy (26 July 2010)
Matias Ramos (28 July 2010)
Weekly Recap – The CHC Has To Stand With Migrant Youth Not Against Us (30 July 2010)
Tania Unzueta (2 August 2010)
Marlen Moreno (4 August 2010)
Weekly Recap – The Ghost of Virgil Goode Possesses the Republican Party (9 August 2010)
David Cho (9 August 2010)
Ivan Nikolov (11 August 2010)
Yves Gomes (16 August 2010)
Selvin Arevalo (18 August 2010)