Immigration Law

STUDENT PROTESTORS DECRY TREATMENT OF ECUADORAN FAMILY

By Greg Siskind

Student protesters in South Florida have taken up the case of another young person who immigrated to the US as a child accompanying her parents. The students believe Gaby Pacheco, who is now in deportation proceedings, was targeted by ICE officials because she was an activist promoting passage of the DREAM Act. And ICE officials are not denying this is the case. I'm not really surprised by this and, really, ICE officials are doing the job they are paid to do.

Ms. Pacheco presumably knew this and is making a major sacrifice in the name of bringing attention to the plight of young people raised in this country who lack legal status because of the actions of their parents.
ICE is not the problem here. Congress is. The failure to pass the DREAM Act showed cowardice, in my opinion, and those who voted against it should be ashamed of their actions. It is one thing to punish people who made the conscious decision to illegally enter and stay in the US. But DREAM covers people who came as children who cannot be held responsible for the actions of their parents. This is simply a matter of using the children as pawns to either punish the parents or make the parents' staying illegally in the US less palatable. Or  its simply about wanting to kick immigrants out regardless of their culpability.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on March 09, 2008 (boomark / email).