tags: , , , Blog

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: DREAMers Halt Deportations; Border Residents Feel Safe

Share This:

The Spanish-language press recognizes the success of the DREAM movement in getting officials to suspend certain deportations, but activists point out that students will still be deported until the federal government takes action to help them — which President Obama told a fundraising dinner he would do “something” about after the November elections. Meanwhile, on the border, arrests are down, deaths are up, and residents feel safe, but Secure Communities continues to expand anyway.

DREAMers halt deportations. La Opinión (Los Angeles) reports that the student movement for the DREAM Act has succeeded in suspending a series of deportations of DREAM-eligible young people by mounting campaigns to pressure public officials. One ICE spokesperson, Lori Haley, tells the paper that the agency is enforcing immigration policy in a smart and effective manner. But Ernesto Zumaya, of the coalition The Dream is Coming, says that even though some deportations have been suspended:

“it doesn’t mean that the government or immigration (officials) aren’t trying to deport students or anyone undocumented…There have been students in the last few years who have been deported and who could have benefited if the DREAM Act had been passed.”