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DreamActivist via flickr
Cross-posted from Culture/Strike
The news is out–and so are undocumented youth around the country who hope that this time, there may be real change ahead. The Obama administration today announced that he will grant undocumented young people temporary immigration relief via an administrative directive by the Department of Homeland Security. The policy would apparently partially fulfill the goals of the DREAM Act campaign by allowing many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation if they were “brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30,” according to the Associated Press, and have obtained a high school education or served in the military, and have no criminal record. Though it is not a comprehensive path toward full citizenship, the policy would reportedly help several hundred thousand youth avoid deportation and allow them to “apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed.”
It appears that this is the administration’s effort to respond to this week’s nationwide mobilization for undocumented youth, coupled with the heightened media attention surrounding Jose Antonio Vargas’s TIME Magazine cover story (featuring CultureStrike’s own Julio Salgado).
Jose Antonio Vargas and his project Define American hailed the new policy as a validation of the struggles of DREAMers and their allies–and acknowledged that many others are still seeking a just and humane immigration solution:
The journey is far from over for the remaining millions of undocumented Americans like me–at 31, I am past the age limit–but this is a big, bold and necessary step in the road to citizenship.
Julio Salgado tells CultureStrike that the policy is encouraging but only covers a piece of the crisis:
It’s a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand I am extremely happy that the work that we have done is paying off. But I also think about the many DREAMers and parents who are past the age of 30 and have been working on this for the past ten years and will not benefit from it. I think about people like Jose Antonio Vargas who just wrote an amazing piece for the cover of TIME Magazine and will not qualify for this. Nonetheless, those folks will be the reason for us to keep fighting.
Now for a reality check: the struggle isn’t over, the DREAM Act is still all but moribund, administrative action has previously proven ineffective in providing real relief to immigrants facing deportation, and uncertainty will continue to dampen the aspirations of millions of immigrants seeking dignity and justice. The Obama administration is still set to deport around 400,000 people this year, and as anti-immigrant hostility boils over in state houses, Washington seems to have little appetite for addressing the immigration question in a comprehensive way during this election season. Nonetheless, the election season has also raised the stakes for the White House on immigration issues as it pivots for Latino voters.
Additionally, the pragmatic ramifications of temporary immigration relief for undocumented youth are hard to ignore. Think Progress notes that the 2010 DREAM Act (legislation that was consistently blocked in Congress–and would have been a broader measure than today’s administrative policy change) was estimated to “increase federal revenues by $1.7 billion.” It would have also generated massive income by allowing undocumented students to remain in the U.S. and work, particularly in high-skilled fields like engineering.
But let’s pull back a bit from the policy debate and recognize that this is about the human rights of individuals and communities who want nothing more than the respect and recognition they deserve as students, neighbors, family members and workers. To that end, Obama’s action can be read as a sign that when it’s deployed with creativity and uncompromising determination, people power can actually shake up the political status quo.
Overall, this is a modest but meaningful triumph in the face of very tough odds, and it’s a testament to the indefatigable activism of groups like the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, Dreamers Adrift, and other grassroots advocates who have helped shift the political ground through creative messaging and direct actions.
So for millions of DREAMers and allies, today’s announcement offers a bit of a respite from a very long nightmare in the government’s immigration gauntlet. But tomorrow morning, it’s back to work.
11 Comments
I take a bit of joy in the success of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, Dreamers Adrift, and other grassroots advocates that got Obama to actually do something not suggested by the right wing of the GOP.
But when Reagan took power, when GWBush took power, the country moved to the right – the far right – more through regulations and executive orders and orders to not follow prior regulation/laws – with folks like Thomas who never saw an EEOC compliant worthy of investigation in his 8 years heading that agency getting rewarded with new jobs – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in his case.
But in 3.5 years of Obama the only move that is even slightly a move to the left via regulation or executive order is this “dream act lite” for 2 years and then good luck move as he attempts to hold Florida. Heck the GOP ALWAYS did a reconciliation bill – every year – so as to get something via 50 votes in the Senate, but in 3.5 years of Obama we have had only one budget reconciliation bill and that was to pass a right wing Heritage Foundation Romney care for the USA.
Obama can get Dems to not oppose GOP crap – making him more dangerous than any GOPer as President – Social Security and Medicare are dead if he gets a second term.
I don’t expect any further use of the power of the presidency to advance the goals of the left – and I do not expect more parts of the dream act – or any immigration change that helps Hispanics – to occur as our reward for voting for Obama in 2012. The four years after 2012 will, if Obama wins, be as empty, if not more empty, as the 4 years after a Romney win..
Ironically, just last week his advisers were fretting about Romney/Rubio positioning themselves to the left of Obama on immigration … now, bingo.
It’s kind of difficult to ignore that the guy’s deported more people than any president in history. You seriously think this has to do with “people power” and not, say, a transparent election-year ploy? There certainly have been significantly larger and better covered demonstrations on the issue. And Obama *could* have done this back in 2009 … or 2010 … or 2011 … why now? Why did he wait?
Hate to be cynical … but it’s hard not to be.
The fun part is this pretty much blows the constant “reasonable adult” refrain from the last four years – “But poor widdle Obama can’t do *anything* with those horrible obstructionists in congress!” – right out of the water. Obviously, when he *decides* to, he has the power to do all sorts of bad-ass shit; he just sucks.
In a word, No.
The Dream Act has been on the books for almost a decade. In that time the Democrats could have passed it and ENDA and repealed DOMA. In point of fact they refused to do any of those things even when they had overwhelming majorities. They’re just like their Republican cousin/brothers.
Obama’s move, however tawdry it origins in election year politics, is welcome but it’s not the Dream Act. Even the Dream Act fall far short of a solution to the racist nightmare of the Democrat and Republican deportation and health care policies. “Contrary to much propaganda hurled at the Affordable Care Act, the law guaranteeing coverage to all Americans excludes illegal immigrants. It does not let them join the expanded Medicaid program for the poor. It denies them low-income subsidies to purchase coverage through the health-insurance exchanges. It even bars them from buying affordable coverage through the exchanges with their own money.” Seattle Times 02 13 12
We need federal legislation granting full citizenship to immigrant and imported workers including the right to join unions, a total end to all deportations, the right to documentation and the right to dual citizenship.
We also need to open the border and grant open-ended asylum to all GLBT folks fleeing antigay violence. We don’t need the kind or racist garbage we got from Obama and both parties in Congress and their racist approach to immigrant and imported workers and their families.
So you propose zero immigration controls at all … an American citizen should be defined as anybody who manages to sneak across the border? What the hell? Using this logic, why isn’t it a violation of my human rights and dignity that I’d get deported from Australia or Canada in like 30 seconds if I slipped in and they caught me trying to work there?
Ultimately, it is not a *RIGHT* for every human on the planet to be a citizen of America simply because they decide that’s where they’d like to be. And even less so if a person has decided to be there based on a unilateral decision totally ignoring clear laws. It’s not like the folks coming over here were confused or something and thought what they were doing was acceptable.
We can’t just pretend as if this is a situation of 100% victimization. There *is* a level of responsibility for this situation held by the individuals who, with unapologetic intent and premeditation, broke immigration laws and took the actions that have brought the situation about. A burning desire for a better life does not erase illegal acts taken in an attempt to secure such.
Our current policy sucks, no doubt. And I totally agree our deportation-based approach is untenable at best and horribly damaging at worst. Obviously, those here and participating in our workforce need full labor protections (as do American workers in similar situations, BTW). But when taken in total, your proposed replacement policy is simplistically absurd. It totally fails address the legitimate responsibility of the government to act on behalf of the extant citizens in America to provide national self-determination regarding immigration and citizenship and essentially hands that determination to whomever serves as the most effective human traffickers.
And also too. WTF is up with dual citizenship? That has never made sense to me. What is wrong with the view that If someone isn’t exclusively loyal to our nation, they shouldn’t be calling themselves an American? Many Americans have no other soil – live or die in national honor or disgrace – America is all that a lot of us have. And a lot of folks see that as a quintessential part of being a true American. It’s difficult to understand how someone swearing loyalty to another people could possibly claim to be as loyal to America as someone who pledges allegiance to our own exclusively.
Pinoccho will incrementally dole out just enough fragments to help his re-election campaign.
Could this be a ploy to find the parents of these kids?
Quite possibly. Nothing, and I mean nothing, President Obama does should ever be taken at face value.
Rewarding people because their parents successfully broke the law. Sounds good.
Or maybe Obama is building a nice, long list that he can turn over to Romney with the keys to the White House.
It is a puzzle, though, why he would add a few million to the official unemployed. Oh, wait, that’s right, they can’t apply for unemployment benefits, since they were working off the books.
The giant bubble that D.C. has become prevents all familiarity with the struggles of American workers. Unions? What unions?
Guys…the man is a neocon.
I absolutely agree with everything you said, and I thank you for having the courage to say it. “Come one, come all” is not a sane policy, and I don’t care how much guilt some on the left try to lay on me for holding that view.