Rally

It's been a long time. The G.E.O. strike ended successfully, and although I don't think members are completely satisfied with the terms in the renewed contract, its a start. They seem to have "won" this battle, but they have yet to win the war (we all do).

So today, in a couple of hours, there is going to be a rally hosted by La Colectiva focusing on spreading the word about immigration reform. We've all heard about Rigo's situation and have watched Stephanie's video, and we all know that a large percentage of undocumented students in the United States are from Mexico; however, I (and I think a lot of other people) had no idea that at least 20,000 undocumented Korean students also live in the U.S. today. Mexico borders the U.S., so its not that big of surprise that many people migrate from there; but Korea? That's like 10,000 miles away. Watching Ju's video (an undocumented Korean student in California) made me realize that the immigration laws of the U.S. negatively affects not only undocumented Latino students, but students from across oceans, continents, and borders. So come to the rally to learn more about what you can do to help.

Good luck to everyone preparing for the rally, and I hope everyone dominates their finals.

Thoughts on the Dream Act Rally

Hi guys, so I'm really new to this whole blogging thing, but I'll give it my best shot. So bear with me here, at least for the first few posts; I'm hoping I'll get the hang of it soon.

So, for the first order of business: the rally. It's already been over a month since almost 200 people gathered on the quad to spread the word about the DREAM act. If I remember correctly, the atmosphere was pretty charged that day, and people were honestly getting riled up; even people who just happened to be passing by were becoming aggravated when they heard about our collective situation: of M.E.CH.A, U.N.F.A.S., I.S.O., the College Democrats, La Casa, La Colectiva, Amnesty International, the G.E.O., and various other organizations. Although we have differing individual agendas, on that day we coalesced around a single, tangible goal: in getting our administration to support the DREAM act and thus contributing to the overall anti-deportation effort centered around Rigo. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the U.S. years ago as undocumented immigrant children, who have since grown up here and been educated in U.S. high schools. As you know, Rigo is facing deportation on account of a silly mistake and the fact that he is undocumented, when in reality, he is no different from any one of us citizens. All that separates us from him (and many others sharing his situation) is a stupid piece of paper; a birth certificate, forgotten and gathering mildew god knows where. I think a lot of people recognized the ridiculous unfairness of the whole situation, and our speakers from various organizations really got through to the people present: I remember when Jesse received a letter of support from Chancellor Herman in the days following the rally, and I remember thinking 'wow, it actually worked!' To be honest, that's when I started to believe that we, as a coalition, could really make a difference. I mean, you don't just get a personal letter from the Chancellor! However, that excitement was somewhat muted when I realized that we have a long way to go, that this was just one battle in a much bigger war. We still have to take into consideration the individual interests of all the organizations that participated in the rally, as well as work harder to get the Dream act actually passed as legislation. Still, I feel that if we keep in mind the overall attitude of every rally participant that day, and remember that we as a coalition got our adiministration "off its ass", things will be much easier to handle. I know that everyone is really busy, what with school and life and things like that; but when things get too overwhelming, just think about how much of a success our rally was, and take pride in it, because you deserve it. Every single person that was there. So that's that. Until next time, its been a pleasure. Peace!

Calling all students and student orgs at the U of I!!

On September 23rd, U of I will be participating in a Back to School: DREAM Act day of action.

Approximately 65, 000 students who would qualify for the DREAM Act graduate from U.S. high schools each year including honor roll students and valedictorians, star athletes and talented artists, aspiring teachers and engineers.

While some states like Illinois have passed in state tuition to allow many of these students to receive a more affordable higher education, without a Social Security number they continue to face legal and financial barriers. They are also unable to work legally in the U.S. and often live in fear of detection by immigration authorities and uncertainty of their future.

Because of our outdated and broken immigration laws in the U.S., the DREAM Act is currently the only hope for the students. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the U.S. years ago as undocumented immigrant children, who have since grown up here and been educated in U.S. high schools while keeping out of trouble.

At Illinois, we are dedicated to educating others when it comes to immigration related issues. We hope students, student organizations, and educators become aware about this issue and offer their support. If you or your organization is interested in collaborating, please contact us lacolectivarso@gmail.com. Because this is an issue that affects ALL students and U of I is no exception.

Updates from the Campus

Last week, La Colectiva was featured in an article in the Daily Illini. The story focused on La Colectiva's work with the DREAM Act and what we are doing to garner support for this cause. We will be holding an event on the 23rd of April at Plym Auditorium in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall. The event will include a Forum/Panel that will aim to inform and educate individuals of the campus as well as individuals from the community on the importance of supporting the D.R.E.A.M. Act. The event will take place at 6:30 P.M. and will end at approximately 8:00 P.M. We encourage everyone to attend and to invite friends, T.A.'s, Professor's, etc. If you have any questions about this event, please send us an email at lacolectivarso@gmail.com.

In addition, we have contacted our Student Trustee, Paul Schmitt, and he has stated his support for the D.R.E.A.M. Act. This is just our first step in attempting to get the University to support the D.R.E.A.M Act. One way you can help is to contact your college Student Senator and ask them to pass a resolution reflecting their support for the cause.

Dont forget to add us on facebook and follow us on twitter to stay up to date on all news regarding the D.R.E.A.M Act.

D.R.E.A.M Act is Re-Introduced

On Thursday, March 26th 2009, Sen.

Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act in the U.S. Senate (S.729 111th Congress)while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (D-FL) introduced it in the House of Representatives. (H.R. 1751 111th Congress)
Currently the DREAM act has 18 Co-Sponsor in the Senate, which include :

• Bingaman (D-NM)
• Boxer (D-CA)
• Dodd (D-CT)
• Feinstein (D-CA)
• Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Harkin (D-IA)
• Kerry (D-MA)
• Menendez (D-NJ)
• Murray (D-WA)
• Bill Nelson (D-FL)
• Whitehouse (D-RI)
• Durbin (D-IL)
• Reid (D-NV)
• Lugar (R-IN)
• Martinez (R-FL)
• Leahy (D-VT)
• Lierberman (I-CT)
• Kennedy (D-MA)
• Feingold (D-WI)
  

The DREAM Act needs to receive support from at least 60 Senators to pass in the Senate. Additionally the text of the new 2009 DREAM Act is now up on at the Library of Congress website. There is one new provision in this version of the DREAM Act, which includes the increase of the limit age from 30 yrs to 35 yrs. You can read the text of the bill here http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html and search by bill number S.729.

This week La Colectiva is continuing their petition and postcard campaign and will also continue to contact Congressmen to support the DREAM Act.

Greetings!

This is La Colectiva's first entry and before we start posting, we would like to tell you a little bit about ourselves. La Colectiva is a non-profit student-run organization at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana that was founded on the basis of addressing the various issues that undocumented students faced on campus. More recently, we have expanded into an organization that exists to address the challenges faced by the immigrant community within Champaign-Urbana while advocating for social justice, change on behalf of all immigrants, and serving the community by fostering leadership and providing resources through grassroots initiatives. Our activities have included tax workshops, college informational workshops, volunteer work at middle and high schools, working on the passage of the D.R.E.A.M. Act, and forums in which we inform and educate the community and the campus alike on any issues related to the immigrant community.
Thank you,
La Colectiva