Prerna Lal is a J.D. Candidate at GW Law School, a writer at Change.org, and a Board Member at Immigration Equality.
She’s also a DREAMer.
In November 2007, Prerna founded DreamActivist.org, and has been an ardent defender of undocumented students ever since. With two degrees already under her belt, and currently pursuing a third, Prerna is exactly the type of undocumented person President Obama has stated time and time again that America does not need deported. He even went so far as to state, in his State of the Union address earlier this year, that his “biggest disappointment” was not being able to pass the DREAM Act. Today, he reiterated that support during his Facebook townhall, finally getting on message that finding a path towards citizenship for undocumented youth will benefit our economy:
And so what we’ve said is, especially for these young people who are our neighbors, our friends, our children’s friends, if they are of good character and going to school or joining our military, they want to be part of the American family, why wouldn’t we want to embrace them? Why wouldn’t we want to make sure that — (applause.) Why wouldn’t we want to make sure that they’re contributing to our future?
However, Mr. President, actions speak louder than words. And Prerna, despite her many degrees and can-do-anything attitude, is currently in removal proceedings.
Why?
Following is her story; posted on her blog:
My name is Prerna Lal. You may know me as one of the founders of DreamActivist or from the Immigrant Rights blog at Change.org where I have worked for the past two years to stop the deportations of several members of our community. I serve as a board member for Immigration Equality and I was the recipient of a Changemaker Award at the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) summit this year.
I am writing this because I am currently sitting for my first-year law school exams at The George Washington University, and already, I’m facing the trial of my life. The United States government has decided to prosecute and deport me away from my family, friends and community. They sent me a notice to appear for removal proceedings last week.
I just paid $800 to the State of California in business taxes. And I’m expected to appear in an Immigration Court in San Francisco for this trial. That is some heavy taxation without representation. To make matters more complicated, my entire family is American and they have done nothing to deserve this treatment.
My only grandparent alive is a U.S. citizen. My legal resident parents brought me here when I was a minor. Even my older sibling is a U.S. citizen. I grew up in this country. This is my home.
So why am I in removal proceedings? The simple answer is that I aged-out. Due to the number of visas allocated to each category and the slow movement (and retrogression) of family visa categories, I turned 21 before my family could petition for a green card for me. As a result, I am being removed from the country that I call home and I cannot re-enter for any reason for the next 10 years.
However, I would qualify for a green-card immediately if USCIS did not have a questionable (and much litigated) re-interpretation of the Child Status Protection Act, a legislation that was passed by Congress to prevent children of U.S. citizens and legal residents from aging-out of family, employer and diversity visa petitions. A nation-wide class action lawsuit is pending on this matter in the Ninth Circuit, but instead of holding petitions in abeyance till the lawsuit is resolved, USCIS cannot wait to deport young people away from their homes.
I would have also benefited from the passage of the federal DREAM Act, a piece of legislation that would put certain immigrant youth on a pathway to citizenship. Just this week, 22 Senators called on President Obama to use his authority to stop deporting DREAM Act-eligible youth like myself. The letter read, “We would support a grant of deferred action to all young people who meet the rigorous requirements necessary to be eligible for cancellation of removal or a stay of removal under the DREAM Act, as requested on a bipartisan basis by Senators Durbin and Lugar last April.”
Even if one is in favor of the most stringent immigration policies, it makes no sense for the government to spend thousands of dollars and several years in litigation to remove immigrant youth like me from our homes. In response to this atrocity, my friends have created a petition to top immigration officials to stop this ridiculous prosecution. You can read more and sign the petition here.