“Relief for DREAMers.” The unexpected headline appearing in two emails I received on June 15, 2012 brought a smile to my face.
“TODAY, President Obama is finally granting DREAMers relief from deportation. DREAM Act youth ages 15-30 will be able to apply for protection from deportation and work permits, which will grant DREAMers a way to contribute to the country they call home. This is a HUGE milestone for DREAMers, who have been fighting for years for the chance to lead successful and prosperous lives here in America.” (America’s Voice & Presente).
In reality, this new U.S. Homeland Security policy is the ‘Almost’ Dream Act.
The DREAM Act (The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minor’s Act) first introduced in 2001 has undergone several changes and has been voted on several occasions, the last time in 2011. Congress has not passed the act. This change in Immigration policy is not an Executive Order and is not the approval of the DREAM Act.
This announcement came one day after the controversial TIME Magazine cover story of how undocumented immigrants, youth in particular, are coming out about their status. The article written by Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer award-winning writer who founded Define American after he came out in the New York Times last year includes Gaby Pacheco, one of the walkers of the Trail of DREAMs 2010, who walked 1500 miles from Miami to DC to highlight the plight of DREAMers.
A Pulizter award winning writer, architects, engineers, medical doctors, nurses, teachers, entrepenuers, and other law abiding students and graduates can stop looking over their shoulder.
The relief from deportation came one day after DREAMers Verónica Gómez and Javier Hernández, ended their 134-hour sit-in and hunger strike at the Colorado Headquarters of the Obama Campaign. And after hundreds of more Dreamers sat in Obama’s campaign offices in Colorado, Michigan and Ohio asking President Obama to issue an executive order stopping the deportation of all DREAM Act eligible youth.
Here’s the big “HOWEVER.”
Unlike the DREAM Act, the policy announced on June 15th will not open a path to citizenship. Eligible immigrants are eligible to apply for work authorization, although there is no guarantee they will receive work permits, and they will have to apply to renew their status every two years.
Within minutes of this announcement online newspaper headlines across the nation used titles such as “Immunity to be offered to certain immigrants.” The GOP and several Republicans came out with strong opposing statements.
While President Obama made the policy change announcement in the White House rose garden, a heckling online journalist interrupted him by yelling at him during his statements. The President repeated, after chastising the journalist, that this policy “…makes it more fair, efficient, and just…It is the right thing to do for the American people.”
“This grant of deferred action is not immunity. It is not amnesty,” Janet Napolitano (Secretary of Homeland Security) said. “It is an exercise of discretion so these young people are not in the removal system. It will help us continue to streamline immigration enforcement and ensure resources are not spent” unwisely.
This new policy could affect as many as 800,000 undocumented immigrants. That number is unclear in part because immigrants will need to come forward and submit documentation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Adjudicators will decide whether to grant work permits on a case-by-case basis. Qualifications for deferred action can be found on USDHS site.
Justino Mora and dozens of Dream Act advocates heard about the Obama administration’s decision to grant relief to young illegal immigrants while they were preparing to attend a rally today to push the administration for just such a change. Mora, 22, an undocumented student who attends UCLA, said he was skeptical at first.
“At the beginning I sort of didn’t believe it,” he said, “but then almost immediately I was overwhelmed by a sense of joy. It gives me hope; it motivates me to continue fighting for my family, for my community. Ricardo Muniz, 24, was en route to the rally when he got the news. “I can breathe,” he said.
Mr. Muniz and thousands of others will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard they are free from deportation and free to pursue their education, jobs, and dreams.
A phrase that has resonated with me for many years is the term “Strong Woman.” I first heard these words used to describe my mother when I was 10 years old “…she’s a strong woman.” I knew the person wasn’t talking about my barely five foot mother’s physical strength.
Another time I came across the term was when I worked on a new project for the California Department of Corrections. The objective was to develop a “treatment mall,” akin to the counseling areas in some newer mental health facilities: offenders from different living units meet in one area to attend counseling and living skills sessions in a cooperative, female responsive environment.
The task was to develop this treatment area without building anything new and using the existing prison facilities. The process is too long to describe here, but part of the planning involved selecting correctional staff and some female offenders to develop objectives.
One of the best parts of this project was the naming of our treatment mall. We invited all of the young women to participate by giving the building a name and a motto. Prizes were photographs and pizza. This may not sound like a lot, but in a prison, pizza and pictures are gold. (I won’t mention the illegal stuff that’s also gold).
After much fanfare and anonymous ballots, we had a winner. The name of the building: The Sunshine Mall.
Its motto: Strong Women Grow Here
This blew my staff and me away. I think it resonated so deeply because we felt they understood what real rehabilitation was supposed to be about. It meant some correctional counselors and team got it right with these particular women and that these women were listening.
Since that time, I’ve carried this motto and it’s concept with me. It finds it way into my fiction writing and I seek out books where characters are ‘strong women.’ It’s also made me think about what makes a strong woman.
A strong woman demonstrates several qualities. I could enumerate them but I also want to show examples of contemporary women who exemplify these traits. On the top of my list is:
Grace:The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred.
“Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts broke some bad news to viewers on Monday, announcing she has been diagnosed with MDS or myelodsyplastic syndrome, a blood and bone marrow disorder.
In 2007, Roberts revealed she had breast cancer and underwent a successful surgery to treat it. Though she has been in remission since then, she revealed her new diagnosis is linked to her earlier health battle.
“When I faced breast cancer, your prayers and good wishes sustained me, gave me such hope and played a major role in my recovery,” she wrote. “In facing this new challenge, I ask humbly for more of your prayers…My doctors tell me I’m going to beat this — and I know it’s true,” she wrote in an open letter posted online after she announced her diagnosis on the show.
Here is grace in action:
Grace is not only possessing poise, it’s also an attitude of thankfulness and dignity. Everything, from Robin Roberts voice, body language, and words exude grace. Amid this health challenge she says she is blessed. Her sister is a perfect match for her bone marrow transplant. Roberts demonstrates her grace by telling her viewers that she is:
“… focusing on the fight not the fright.”
“I’m like everyone who faces some life alternating situations, whether it’s your health, finances, or whatnot.It’s getting off the mat and fighting…”
“…This too shall pass…”
I’ll be continuing this “Strong Women,” topic for the next month and I’d love to know what qualities you believe describe a strong woman.
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