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DREAM Act Spurs Get Out The Vote Activism, Last Day to Register to “Vote4Me”

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With today being the last day to register to vote in many states, those who “DREAM” of having the right to cast a ballot are turning up the volume on their “Vote4Me” campaign in conjunction with VotoLatino. Check out Matias Ramos and Maria Marroquin, two very active DREAM Act advocates, as they explain their effort to ask those who can vote to represent those who remain in the shadows:

The DREAM Act is a common-sense provision that would allow qualified undocumented youth to earn legal residency through either two years of college or military service. It was brought forward as an amendment to the annual Defense Reauthorization bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), but it was blocked by Republican Senators, who unanimously voted to stop it from moving forward. This included a handful of Senators who had voted for the bipartisan measure in the past.

NPR reported over the weekend on the Spanish-language Dream Act ads launched recently by SEIU, Mi Familia Vota, and America’s Voice:

The DREAM Act became ready fodder when it died in the Senate on Sept. 22 after Democrats failed to get a single Republican to vote in support, including among from Republicans who had favored the measure in the past.

“For us, it really starts with the sense that fixing the economy requires fixing or reforming our broken immigration system,” SEIU spokesman Teddy Davis says. “We need to stop exploiting our undocumented workers or it’s going to drag down the floor on all workers. So it has an impact on everyone.”