This afternoon, at a press conference just steps from the White House, over 40 leaders of the United We Dream Network, donning graduation caps and holding banners celebrating “El Poder de Nuestro Pueblo” (the power of our community) and declaring their “Right to Dream,” will announce a massive public education campaign to ensure that the Latino and immigrant communities are energized and ready to fight for the full implementation of President Obama’s Friday announcement.
Here’s the video from the event. We also livetweeted:
The event featured comments from Richard Trumka, President of AFL-CIO; Cristina Jimenez, Managing Director of the United We DREAM Network; Gaby Pacheco of United We DREAM; Erika Andiola of United We DREAM; Neidi Dominguez from DREAM Team LA; and Jose Antonio Vargas, Founder of Define American.
While the DREAMers, speakers, and supporters were jubilant about the still-recent news that the Obama administration will no longer deport DREAM Act-eligible youth, they stressed the magnitude of the education campaign they are beginning and all the work the movement has left to do. Obama’s announcement is expected to affect around 800,000 DREAMers, many of whom have questions about whether they are eligible and how to apply.
“From Monday to today,” Gaby said during her speech, “we’ve had 5000 people come to our website [www.unitedwedream.org] looking for answers. We’ve trained 2000 people to go out into their communities and answer questions. We have 60 town halls scheduled in states all over the nation. This is going to be a massive education campaign.”
Also underscored was the upcoming NALEO conference and the fact that Mitt Romney has yet to say anything substantial in response to Obama’s move.
As Erika said, “President Obama has given us an answer that the other side hasn’t been answering: what they want to do with us. Tomorrow at NALEO, we need Mitt Romney to come out and say something.”
