For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Media Contacts:
Nancy Meza (424)785 4013
Alma Castrejon (424) 260-3751
PRESIDENT OBAMA, STOP LYING TO UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS ABOUT YOUR IMMIGRATION POLICY!
Undocumented students respond to the President’s speech on immigration: No more false promises, stop the deportation of DREAM Act-eligible youth, exercise your executive authority to stop our deportations!
Los Angeles, CA – In response to the President’s immigration speech, undocumented students across the nation demand that President Obama stop lying and take a strong stand to not only stop the arrest, jailing and deportation of DREAM Act-eligible youth in the United States, but also grant them administrative relief through an executive order.
Though we appreciate the President’s well intentions to bring to light this important issue, our ears have become mute to the over used and repetitive rhetoric. President Obama needs to take humane and concrete actions.
President Obama has various options such as deferred action and humanitarian parole to stop the deportation of immigrant youth and the separation of immigrant families. Other presidents in the past have exercised this power; however, he is choosing not to use that power.
Last month, twenty-two leaders from the Democratic Senate caucus issued a letter to President Obama urging him to use his authority and grant relief from deportation to DREAM Act-eligible youth. Although the DREAM Act was five votes short of passing in the Senate in December 2010, President Obama has the power to offer other forms of relief for undocumented youth.
Through enforcement programs such as 287g and Secure Communities, the Obama administration has been responsible for the greatest number of deportations in U.S. history — approximately 800,000 in a two-year period. During his campaign for presidency, Obama promised he would pass the DREAM Act. Right now is the time for him to live up to his promise to the immigrant community and take the first step of making the DREAM Act a reality by issuing an executive order to stop the deportation of undocumented youth across the nation.
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Dream Team Los Angeles (DTLA) is an autonomous group of students and community members working toward the empowerment of immigrant youth and the passage of the DREAM Act. DTLA is led by undocumented students in Los Angeles who are undocumented and unafraid and have been organizing locally and nationally for the right to legalization of undocumented youth.