NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS report: student movements A Dream Detained: Undocumented Latino Youth and the DREAM Movement

By Arely M. Zimmerman

n o c t o b e r 12, 2011, f i v e undocumented immigrant ordinances and laws are being consid- Latino youth wearing graduation caps ered in an unprecedented number of localities and Ostaged a sit-in at the ­Immigration and states. Laws banning undocumented immigrants Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in downtown from renting homes, penalizing employers who Los Angeles. The sit-in was meant to urge the hire them, and barring undocumented youth from Obama administration to stop deporting undocu- universities are part of a larger trend in which im- mented youths.1 It also launched the national Edu- migration law and enforcement is transferred to the cation Not Deportation (END) Our Pain campaign, local and state level within the context of neoliberal undertaken by a network of immigrant youth or- restructuring.2 Over the past several decades, the ganizations and allies demanding an immediate United States has implemented two contradictory moratorium on deportations of youth eligible for policies: It has liberalized the economy—enabling the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien the free movement of capital—and increased Minors (DREAM) Act. If passed, it would grant border enforcement and the criminalization and conditional legal status to those brought here under ­surveillance of migrant workers and their families. age 16 if they attend college or join the military. These broader neoliberal agendas have fundamen- Despite recent announcements from the Obama tally and strategically been implemented in cities, administration that it would ease up on non- whose residents have consequently faced changing ­criminal deportations, U.S. officials continue to de- demographics and economic restructuring. The lo- port undocumented immigrants at a record-setting cal and state government anti-immigrant policies, rate. Federal programs such as Secure Communities, have largely been in response to the cities’ anxieties are at least partially responsible, essentially turning and impulses to counteract demographic and eco- local law enforcement into de facto Border Patrol nomic changes with exclusionary and restrictive agents. Tony Ortuño, one of the participants in the covenants that target undocumented workers. sit-in, explained his reasons for risking arrest: For the last four years the number of states that “We . . . were hopeful that the recent announce- allow undocumented students to receive in-state ments by President Obama would bring relief to tuition has plateaued.3 Only 10 states now offer in- DREAM Act-eligible youth . . . However, due to state tuition to undocumented immigrants. Instead, programs like Secure Communities . . . the num- many states are now looking to roll back in-state bers of undocumented youth who are incarcerated, tuition or pass laws preventing undocumented Arely M. Zimmer- shackled, and deported to countries they barely immigrants from attending. The most recent puni- man holds a Ph.D. know continues to rise.” tive measures have been passed in new immigrant in Political Science The civil disobedience reflects how the undoc- destinations such as South Carolina, Georgia, and from UCLA, and is currently an umented youth movement has transitioned and Alabama, which have gone so far as banning un- Andrew Mellon transformed—from a movement that was initially documented youth from universities. Postdoctoral Fellow focused on building support for the DREAM Act This is despite the fact that international free in Social Movements to one that has increasingly used direct action to trade agreements and current U.S. laws have been in the Department bring attention to broader issues of immigrant, largely responsible for transforming circular migra- of American Studies and the Program civil, and human rights as a strategy for social tion patterns into largely undocumented migrant for Environmental and policy change. The tactical shift has been in settlement, in which immigrant children are largely and Regional Equity response to a changing political context in which affected.4 In other words, while the United States at the University of the will to pass immigration reform has waned in has actively recruited, relied on, and imported Southern California. Washington, deportations are on the rise, and anti- Mexican migrant labor that was seasonal, temporal,­ 14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 report: student movements

A DREAM Act supporter with a graduation cap demonstrates in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in downtown Los Angeles on ­October 12, to urge the Obama administration to stop deporting undocumented youth.

and largely unregulated, current immigration laws and neo- youth who have grown up in the United States to eventu- liberal trade agreements have combined to produce an un- ally obtain permanent legal status and become eligible for documented, settled labor force. U.S. citizenship if they go to college or serve in the U.S. In a 2009 report, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated military. (2) It would eliminate a federal provision that pe- that in 2008 there were 1.7 million undocumented youth nalizes states that provide in-state tuition without regard to between the ages of 18 and 24 living in the United States immigration status. and that Latinos represented 78% of this population.5 The Due to several compromises to secure bipartisan support, increasing numbers of undocumented migrants who have the DREAM Act has undergone significant changes. The mil- decided to stay in the United States has contributed to the itary option—which replaced the community service provi- larger numbers of undocumented children that are growing sion in earlier versions—incited criticism among some who into adulthood. Unfortunately, their legal status, poverty, and saw the new version of the bill as a military recruitment tool poor schools conspire to make political, social, and economic (see “Letter to the DREAM Movement,” page 18).6 When incorporation into society extremely complicated. The cur- the DREAM Act was included in a Defense appropriations rent moment represents a critical juncture not only in the bill, VAMOS Unidos Youth, an organization of street ven- undocumented youth movement, but in shaping policies dors and their children in the Bronx, New York, withdrew that will continue to affect the incorporation patterns of im- support, saying it was “a de facto military draft, forcing un- migrant youth for years to come. documented youth to fight in unjust wars in exchange for the recognition as human beings.”7 i n c e 2001, c o n g r e s s h a s b e e n considering a v e r s i o n Some of their concerns are substantiated by the relatively of the DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation that would limited number of youth who would be able to access higher Sprovide an opportunity for undocumented students education in the current economic climate.8 Currently, only with “good moral character,” who have lived in the U.S. for 26% of undocumented youth enroll in college; compared to a certain period, to obtain legal status. The latest version was 56% of 18-24-year-olds who are U.S. born. In other words, introduced May 11. If passed, it would change current law the bill would primarily benefit those willing and able to af-

Pocho one Pocho in two major ways: (1) It would permit certain immigrant ford college or serve in the military as an option for legaliza- 15 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS report: student movements

tion.9 In a July 2010 report, the Migration Policy Institute sit-ins at Congressional offices, hunger strikes, marches, noted that while over 2 million unauthorized youth could and symbolic graduations, while amplifying their voices be immediately eligible for the DREAM Act, only 33% may through the sophisticated use of blogs, Facebook, You- benefit from the educational path in the bill. Tube, and other social media. In June 2009, the founders Despite these changes in the law, the DREAM Act has in- of DREAM Activist,­ an online undocumented youth advo- spired political participation and activism of undocumented cacy network, along with United We Dream, organized 500 youth in unprecedented numbers. Before the DREAM Act, youth to participate in the National DREAM Act Graduation immigrant rights activists had primarily focused their orga- in Washington,­ which combined a symbolic ceremony with nizing efforts on class action lawsuits to defend the right to legislative lobbying.15 Solidarity graduations took place the education for undocumented students at the state level.10 same day in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, While youth have been historically active in these issues, the Kentucky, ­Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, immigrant rights mobilizations in 2006 opened opportuni- North Carolina, ­and Texas.16 In another widely publicized ties for broader youth participation. campaign, on January 1, 2010, four undocumented youth Undocumented and immigrant youth participated in from Miami Dade ­College began a four-month, 1,500-mile- unprecedented numbers in the mobilizations of 2006 and trek to Washington to advocate for the DREAM Act. In what 2007, albeit with some initial resistance from some sec- they aptly called the Trail of DREAMs, the youth document- tors of the movement.11 Initially, student issues were not a ed their walk with active blogging, Facebook, YouTube, and prominent part of the immigrant rights movements’ broader twitter, and gathered 30,000 signatures to bring to President agenda. Many of the youth groups that were involved in the Obama along the way. Throughout these mobilizations, un- marches nationally had to assert themselves and fight for documented youth became increasingly willing to “come inclusion.12 Yet, despite the energy and enthusiasm of the out” to their peers, teachers, and friends. Using blogs, pod- 2006 mobilizations, Congress failed to enact a progressive casts, and user-generated video, undocumented youth de- immigration reform that year. When the DREAM Act came clared their legal status openly, many for the first time. The up for an important vote in October 2007, it failed to garner prominence of the Our Stories section in DREAM Activist’s the 60 votes needed to proceed to a debate on the ­Senate blog, for example, is evidence of how the practice of com- floor.13 While a sector of the organized immigrant rights ing out, a repertoire used by the LGBTQ movement decades movement responded by focusing on pursuing an electoral prior, has been a fundamental mobilizing strategy and col- strategy—including voter and citizenship drives to increase lective identification tool among undocumented youth.17 Latino/a voter turnout in key states—undocumented youth began to organize a national movement that could push the n d e c e m b e r 2010, a f t e r y e a r s o f l o b b y i n g , legislative DREAM Act as a standalone bill. National coalitions emerged visits and phone calls, hunger strikes and sit-ins, the such as the United We Dream network, which coordinated IDREAM Act failed to gather the necessary votes to avoid undocumented youth organizations across the country. Dur- a Republican filibuster once again. Falling a few votes short, ing this time, undocumented youth leaders also began to the crushing defeat marked a turning point for the undocu- question the pace of change working primarily through the mented youth movement at a time of economic crisis and Democratic Party and long-established civil and immigrant anti-immigrant backlash.18 Obama’s enforcement-first im- rights organizations. Their mounting critique of these insti- migration policy, the ascendancy of the right-wing of the tutions led some sectors of the movement to opt for forms of Republican Party, and the anti-immigrant legislation at the grassroots organizing that prioritized undocumented youth state and local level has forced the movement to rescale and leadership and new strategies. reconsider its goals and tactics. While the DREAM Act is “Until we organized this movement, we had been caught still a high priority, undocumented youth have now focused in a paralyzing stranglehold of inactivity across the country. on resisting the effects of mass deportations and defending We were told that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform their right to education gained decades before in the 1982 Act, or CIRA, was still possible. Yet we continued to endure U.S. Supreme court decision Plyer vs. Dow, which ruled that ICE raids,” wrote several undocumented Latino youth in an public schools could not deny immigrant students access to open letter in September 2010. “We stopped waiting . . . We public education. The Dream Is Coming, an undocument- organized ourselves and created our own strategy, used new ed youth initiative that organizes direct actions across the tactics . . . At a moment when hope seemed scarce . . . We de- country, attributes the change to a growing frustration with clared ourselves UNDOCUMENTED AND UNAFRAID!”14 merely electoral or legislative strategies: Throughout 2009 and 2010, in the spirit of the slogan “We are compelled by our frustration and the fierce ur- “Undocumented and unafraid,” youth activists organized gency of our dreams . . . We have worked for years on a path 16 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 report: student movements

to legalization. We are at a point in our movement where read, “Obama Deports DREAMers,” interrupted the presi- radical action has become necessary.”19 dent as he gave a speech to Latino advocates in Washington, One of the key concerns has been the record number of countering Obama’s message with their own.27 deportations since Obama took office. Already in 2011, the Whereas initial undocumented youth organizing around Obama administration has deported 400,000 people, totaling the DREAM Act began with the optimism that a new Demo- more than a million during his tenure in office, far exceeding cratic administration would usher in immigration reform and the number of deportations under the Bush administration.20 legalization, changing political contexts have forced them to The high figures are largely attributed to Obama’s aggressive defend their communities against massive deportations, ICE implementation of programs such as Secure Communities, raids, and increased harassment by local law enforcement. As or S-Comm, a three-year-old partnership between federal a consequence of this new political climate, undocumented agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and youth have increasingly opted for civil disobedience and direct the FBI, and local law enforcement, which facilitates the shar- action, while also expanding their vision for social change. ing of information such as the fingerprints of arrested and “When the DREAM Act failed to get sixty votes . . . many detained individuals. Critics point out that it leads to racial groups focused on . . . election work,” reads the United We profiling and gives local police rapidly increasing power to Dream website. “In the void, a group of organizers and lead- enforce immigration law. ers came together to . . . talk about building a movement and Despite the administration’s insistence that it is focusing organization that would not crumble on up or down votes on immigrants with criminal records, of the over 1 million in Congress, but that was rooted in a commitment to build deportees, 46% have been convicted of crimes while 54% an immigrant youth movement that would work to not only have not.21 Thus, undocumented youth continue to move pass the DREAM Act, but reshape and influence the broader through the deportation pipeline.22 movement for immigrant rights.”28 In the face of this crisis, undocumented youth have used Thus, despite the lack of a clear and immediate path to- a combination of direct action and media activism to shine ward the passage of the DREAM Act, many youth activists a spotlight on immigrant detention and deportation, which continue organizing. For many undocumented youth, leg- has largely remained hidden from public view.23 They have islation like the DREAM Act represents much more than staged rallies and sit-ins at detention centers, ICE offices, and a change in legal status, but a validation of their belong- have even targeted banks that invest in private prisons, di- ing. Julio Salgado, an artist and longtime activist, says that rectly confronting the institutions that are profiting from the despite the uncertainty of the DREAM Act, the movement immigrant detention and deportation system.24 An impor- sustains itself by creating “a sense of community, mutual tant complement to their direct action has been their use of support, and belonging.”29 grassroots messaging campaigns. Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, In a small victory in September, California passed a bill and microblogging, immigrant youth broadcast the stories of known as the California Dream Act. While the legislation those who are in detention centers and fighting deportation doesn’t get undocumented youth any closer to citizenship, orders. On the morning that an electronic monitoring device it does extend state financial aid to undocumented students, was placed on his ankle, Matias Ramos, an undocumented and Illinois and Florida have introduced similar bills. youth and co-founder of United We Dream, turned to ­Twitter, “I know that it does not change my legal status . . . but posting a photo of himself and announcing that he had been the legislation changes how you feel about yourself and your given two weeks to leave the country.25 Stories like these are future,” said an undocumented UCLA student, who asked to transmitted through a broad-based social media network remain anonymous, at a recent community gathering to cel- connecting campus organizations, community groups, and ebrate the passage of the Act. These narratives reveal that the allies, providing links to petitions and online donations. vision for social change of undocumented youth extends be- Perhaps feeling the pressure of immigrant rights advocates’ yond legalization to a broader agenda that includes social and sharp criticisms, Obama announced in August that his ad- economic justice for immigrant workers and their families. ministration would do a case-by-case review of deportations, It is a movement whose claims to national belonging fun- allowing many undocumented immigrants without criminal damentally challenge the basis of inclusion into the national records to apply for work permits, in order to prevent “non- community at a time when the rights of both citizens and priority” immigrants from “clogging the system.”26 The an- non-citizens are exponentially narrowing. If a test of a society nouncement came on the heels of a summer in which undoc- is how it treats its most vulnerable members, then immigrant umented youth tracked Obama as he gave speeches to largely youth’s claims to citizenship have tremendous implications Latino audiences in Puerto Rico, Texas, and Washington. In not only for the rights of immigrants, but for the quality and July, twenty undocumented youth, wearing red T-shirts that legitimacy of U.S. democracy for decades to come. 17 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS notes

Do It Yourself Draft,” The War Resisters League Blog, September 23, 2010. 8. Jacob Simas and Vivian Po, “Latino College Enrollment Skyrockets, But Will Upward 1. Wendy Brown, “Neoliberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy,” in Edgework: Criti- Mobility,” New America Media, October 30, 2011. cal Essays on Knowledge and Politics (Princeton University Press, 2005), 37–59, 42. 9. Jeanne Batalova and Margie McHugh, “DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential 2. See Anne Nelson and Ivan Sigal, with Dean Zambrano, Media, Information Systems, DREAM Act Beneficiaries” (Migration Policy Institute, July 2010). and Communities: Lessons from On-the-Ground Realities (CDAC, Internews, Knight 10. Hinda Seif, “Wise Up! Undocumented Latino Youth, Mexican-American Legislators, Foundation, January 2011). and the Struggle for Higher Education Access,” Latino Studies 2 (2004): 210–30. 3. Kimberly Coates, “Q&A: Media in Post-Earthquake Haiti,” Tomorrow’s News (blog), 11. Gonzalez, “Left Out but Not Shut Down,” 220. Ashoka International, October 1, 2010. 12. Ibid, 231. 4. “Editoryal,” Chimen Lakay, no. 1 (July 2010): 2. 13. Julia Preston, “Bill for Immigrant Students Fails Test Vote in Senate,” The New York 5. Ibid. Times, October 25, 2007. 6. Ibid. 14. Jonathan Perez, Jorge Gutierrez, Nancy Meza, and Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, 7. Mark Schuller, Unstable Foundations: Impact of NGOs on Human Rights for Port-au- “DREAM Movement: Challenges with the Social Justice Elite’s Military Option Ar- Prince’s Internally Displaced People, October 4, 2010. guments and the Immigration Reform ‘Leaders,’ ” Truthout, September 21, 2010. 8. Nick Owens, “Where’s the Money for Haiti Gone?” The Daily Mirror, May 27, 2010; 15. Samya Behary, “Students Storm Capitol Hill for National Dream Act Graduation Dana Milbank, “The Sad Math of Aid in Haiti: 6 months, 2 percent,” The Washington Day,” Immigration Impact, June 25, 2009. Post, July 13, 2010. 16. DREAM Activist, “DREAM for America: National DREAM Act Graduation Day – 9. Chimen Lakay, no. 1 (July 2010): 3. June 23, 2009,” press release, June 21, 2009. 10. Coates, “Q&A.” 17. Dream Activist “Our Stories,” webpage. 11. Jodi Dean, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies (Duke University Press, 18. See Alfonso Gonzalez, “The 2006 Mega Marchas in Greater Los Angeles: Counter- 2009), 33. hegemonic moment and the future of El Migrante Struggle,” Latino Studies 7, no. 1 (2009): 30-59. Horizontalism 19. The Dream is Coming, “About Us,” webpage, thedreamiscoming.com/about/. 20. Nancy Lofholm, “Secure Communities Immigration Effort Disproportionately Targets 1. Clifford Krauss, “Argentine Leader Declares Default on Billions in Debt,” The New Latinos, Report Says,” The Denver Post, October 20, 2011. York Times, December 23, 2001. 21. Molley O’Toole, “Obama Deportation Raise Immigration Policy Questions” Reuters 2. Pagina/12, “La causa por la represión sigue sin definiciones,” March 13, 2007. (U.S. edition), September 20, 2011. 3. Marina Sitrin, Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina (AK Press, 2006), 22. Elise Foley, “New Policy on Deportations Allows Some Non-Criminal Undocumented 41. Immigrants to Stay,” The Huffington Post, August 18, 2011. 4. Ibid. 48. 23. Aarti Kohli, Peter l. Markowitz, and Lisa Chavez, “Secure Communities by the Num- 5. Ibid. 58. bers: An Analysis of Demographics and Due process,” Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy Research Report, October 2011. Introduction 24. Elise Foley, “Immigrants to Wells Fargo: Stop Investing in For-Profit Detention,” The Huffington Post, October 17, 2011. 1. Agência Brasil, “Em marcha em Brasília, professores pedem aplicação de 10% do PIB 25. See Leslie Rojas Berestein, “A High-Profile Challenge to the White House New em educação,” October 26, 2011. Deportation Guidelines,” MultiAmerican, September 21, 2011. 2. AFP, “Policía continúa desalojo de estudiantes que mantienen tomados colegios,” 26. Elise Foley, “New Policy on Deportations allows some Non-Criminal Immigrants to August 9, 2011. Stay” The Huffington Post, August 18, 2011. 3. Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the 27. Mercedes Gonzalez, “Dreamers: ‘We Told Obama “Yes We Can” at NCLR,’ ” Voice Middle Class (Harvard University Press, 2008). of the Mainland magazine, July 28, 2011. 4. Steven Roberts, “Ronald Reagan is Giving ‘Em Heck,” The New York Times, October 28. United We Dream, “History,” website, unitedwedream.org/about/history. 25, 1970. 29. Julio Salgado, “Queer, Undocumented, and Unafraid: Sexuality Meets Immigration 5. George M. Dennison, “Privatization: An Unheralded Trend in Higher Education,” pre- Politics in a Youth-Led Movement for Immigrant Rights,” Briarpatch, May/June 2011. sented at the Governor’s Conference on Higher Education, Montana, October 2002. 6. BBC Mundo, “Los estudiantes de Colombia y Chile intentan exportar su protesta,” The Fight for Mexican American Studies in Tucson November 15, 2011. 1. Tom Horne, “Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by A Dream Detained Tuscon Unified School District, Pursuant to A.R.S. §15-122(B),” Save Ethnic Studies, December 30, 2010. 1. Research for this article was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur 2. Cabium Learning, Inc., “Curriculum Audit of the Mexican American Studies Depart- Foundation and USC’s Media, Activism, and Public Participation Project at the An- ment Tucson Unified School District,” Save Ethnic Studies, May 2, 2011. nenberg School for Communication/Journalism; Leslie Berestein Rojas, “Undocu- 3. Directed by Three Sonorans, “The TUSD Tragedy - Save Ethnic Studies,” 2011, mented Student Activists in LA Get Audience With Federal Officials, Get Arrested,” ­vimeo.com/23516724. MultiAmerican, October 12, 2011. 4. State of Arizona House of Representatives, “House Bill 2281,” 2010. 2. See Monica W. Varsanyi, “Neoliberalism and Nativism: Local Anti-Immigrant Policy 5. Horne, “Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by Activism and an Emerging Politics of Scale,” International Journal of Urban and Re- Tuscon Unified School District.” gional Research 35, no. 2 (2011): 295–311. 6.  Ibid, 7. 3. Maria Eugenia Miranda, “DREAM Act, Part II,” Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 7. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persis- April 28, 2011. tence of Racial Inequality in the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). 4. See Roberto Gonzalez, “Left Out but Not Shut Down: Political Activism and the Un- 8. Otto Santa Ana, Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American documented Student Movement,” Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy Public Discourse (University of Texas Press, 2005). 3, Spring (2008): 222–23. 9. Arizona State Legislature, Bill Status Votes for HB2281-Final Reading. 5. J. S. Passel, and D. Cohn, A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States 10. Tom Horne, “Interview by Gary Tuchman, Visiting an Ethnic Studies Class,” CNN, (Pew Hispanic Center, 2009). May 20, 2010 (time 1:53). 6. Yo Soy El Army: The Dream of Citizenship (Big Noise Films/ Producciones Cimarrón, 11. Horne, “Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by 2010) is illustrative of the Dream Act as a military recruitment tool, 67percent.net. Tuscon Unified School District.” 7. Vamos Unidos Youth, “Latino Youth Defines DREAM Act as a DeFacto Military 12. D.A. Morales, “Video: John Huppenthal to ‘Stop La Raza’ Today?” TusconCitizen. 38