UNDOCUMENTED AND UNAFRAID – YOUTH LEADERS DEMAND ACTION ON THE DREAM ACT – Arizona

Today, four undocumented youth leaders arrested during a peaceful protest at Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) Tucson, Arizona office, on Tuesday, were released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dressed in caps and gowns, Mohammad Abdollahi, Yahaira Carrillo, Tania Unzueta, Raul Alcaraz, and Lizbeth Mateo staged a sit-in in Senator McCain’s office, calling on him to stand up for the rights of immigrant youth and cosponsor the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act – a narrowly-tailored, bi-partisan legislation that would create a means for thousands of deserving young people to obtain legal residency by attending college or serving in the military.

Senator McCain, though a past cosponsor of the legislation, has refused to support the bill or take leadership on addressing this basic civil rights issue affecting a generation of immigrant youth. Many question whether his new stance on the issue is due to his primary challenge from J.D. Hayworth. “We cannot afford to have our legislators play politics with the lives of so many of our best and brightest,” said Carlos Saavedra, national coordinator, United We Dream Network. “There may be a time to make political calculations, but now is not it – support for DREAM Act is not about politics, it’s about doing what is right; it’s about standing up for fairness, opportunity, and education.”

Tuesday’s protest follows a string a public campaigns highlighting the plight of undocumented youth and the need for Congress and the White House to take action on the DREAM Act this year. “Our youth are crying out for our leaders to show the courage needed to change lives,” said Cristina Jimenez, board chair of United We Dream Network. “All they are asking for is an opportunity to get an education and the ability to help strengthen our economy.”
To contact immigrant students, educators or for more information please contact: Tolu Olubunmi, (tolu@unitedwedream.org) 240-505-5921(c)

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The United We Dream Network (UWD) is a national youth-led network devoted to achieving equal access to higher education for all people, regardless of immigration status. UWD is dedicated to the passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a bipartisan legislation that would permit a select group of undocumented students, conditional legal status and eventual citizenship in the U.S. For more information on the DREAM Act, visit UWD’s website www.dreamactivist.org.

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