NEW YORK – Eleven undocumented youth and allies on February 15 began the “Walk to Stay Home,” a 15-day walk from Battery Park in New York to the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington. The 250-mile journey was organized by the Seed Project with the support of the Our Dream Campaign to draw attention to the need for a clean Dream Act that not only grants permanent protection for undocumented youth, but does not harm 11 million undocumented people living and working in the United States.
The “Walk to Stay Home” is undocumented youths’ response to politicians who use “Dreamers” as talking points on the campaign trail, but back down when it is time to demonstrate real support.
CHICAGO – The United States government had six months since September 5, 2017 to come up with a permanent solution for the Dreamers. During these six months, 22,000 DACA recipients lost their protection. While some anxiously wonder if they should put their plans on hold and return to constantly looking over their shoulders, others fear that any day they might get deported.
March 5th arrived, the scheduled day for Trump to announce Congress’ final decision. But instead of getting a final answer, we got silence. During this six-month period, Trump kept blaming the Democrats for failing to keep DACA. While all the time saying that DACA is not a ‘priority’ whereas the wall construction between the United States and Mexico.
He’d promised a solution to the Dreamers via his Twitter account. This kept everyone on the edge of their seats, wondering what the final solution was going to be, but it seems that it was just all talk and no action.
Rally was held in downtown Chicago on Thursday March 15th to protest what the speakers claim is Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s policy of separating immigrant families. Highlighted was the case of a Congolese mother who had her seven year old daughter taken from her by ICE officers upon arrival in this country.
With no solution, it is clear that the government has no real intent of protecting Dreamers. Trump probably hopes that as time goes by, people will begin to forget about it. Except that this is not an option for the Dreamers and their supporters.
The deadline may have passed, and the future may be foggy, but one thing for certain is that there is no stopping for us. Hope and our voices are our biggest weapons against the silence and shrug of the Trump administration.
The time is now, and this is history in the making. We’re witnessing protests and walkouts. And while some are calling for the gun violence to stop and others for women’s rights, the Dreamers are calling for a right to stay, and for legalization for all. All activists want to prove a point: We are here, and we are not giving up.
DACA Dreamers walked 250 miles from New York to Washington to protest the inaction of the DACA renewal. Eighty-seven persons were arrested in DACA protests throughout the country. Immigrants’ rights activists were the voice for immigrants across the country in every state in the Women’s Marches.
These actions prove that we as the people want immigration reform now. Not just legalization for the Dreamers, but legalization for all! We won’t stop marching in the streets, voicing personal stories, and coming together to make sure that the government actually takes into consideration the people’s wants and needs.
After all, this is a democracy and the people are the base of this country.
