Política

DREAM Act passes in the House

AB 540 students with DREAMs

As I watched the DREAM Act debate on C-SPAN earlier today, I realized something. I’ve been writing, reading and thinking about this issue since I started grad school in 2004. My first paper for a class that quarter was on the history of the DREAM Act and AB 540. Before that, I had supported California’s AB 540 and pushed for the UC Regents to adopt it in 2001.

All that was before I became friends with undocumented students or worked directly with them. After getting to know students in this situation, my belief in the need for the DREAM Act grew.

Thus, seeing the DREAM Act come up for a vote tonight made me incredibly nervous. I was on edge as I listened to impassioned speeches on the House floor. I cheered when I heard strong remarks from supporters and was angered by the lies and misinformation spread by detractors.

I also felt my UCLA pride grow when I heard it mentioned by four different representatives. Rep. Zoe Lofren mentioned being moved by Tam Tran’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law in 2007. Rep. Judy Chu spoke about Ernesto a student who interned while in community college who was then admitted to UCLA. (Curiously, I saw a picture tweeted of him watching Rep. Chu mention him.) And there were two other representatives who mentioned the findings of a report from UCLA’s NAID Center on economic benefits of passing the DREAM Act.

When the final votes were counted and I saw the DREAM Act (HR 6497) passed 216-198, I cheered. My eyes may have watered a bit despite knowing that the fight goes on to the Senate now and knowing that the current DREAM Act isn’t what I’d like to see. It’s a watered down and harsher than past versions. Michael E. Hill explains:

Applicants for relief under the House-passed version of the DREAM Act would have to apply for that relief before reaching their 30th birthday and would have to pay $2,525 in “surcharges” in addition to the fee that the DHS sets for the cost of adjudicating their application. Under the House-passed bill, DREAM Act applicants would be ineligible for a host of federal educational assistance programs.

Still, the DREAM Act provides a path to citizenship to thousands of youth (albeit a long one). It’s the first time in almost 25 years Congress has voted to legalize anyone.

Congratulations to all those who worked so hard and put yourselves on the line for the DREAM Act. Your celebration is well deserved.

If you want to make some calls to Senators here’s scripts, phone numbers and targets.

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Corriendo

Team Mosqueda runs the Puente Hills YMCA Turkey Trot

I was already awake and listening to the rain when Lori texted me at 5:55 on Sunday morning.

“It’s raining right now.”

“Do you think we should just not do it?”

I hoped she’d want to back out of the annual Puente Hills YMCA Turkey Trot 5K/10K. I’m sure we both preferred our warm beds to the cold and rainy morning.

But Lori, always a trooper, didn’t back out. Instead she suggested we wear trash bags over our running clothes to keep us relatively dry.

Ten minutes later I was dressed and headed east with Sean to pick up Lori before making our way to our final destination, the Puente Hills Mall (yes, in the suburbs a 5K/10K starts in a mall parking lot).

Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we registered and lined up for the race. As expected, the turnout was low, a good sign for us. There were even fewer people running the 10K, which gave us a better chance at winning a turkey. In previous years, Lori had placed second and just missed winning a turkey.

The race itself was rather uneventful and led to a great run. I didn’t have time to set up my iPod Shuffle so I ran without music. I didn’t miss it since I was running with Lori for most of the race and occasionally talking. On the last mile we started loudly humming “Eye of the Tiger” and cheering on other runners just to be silly.

In previous weeks I’d been running the 10K distance at least once a week and doing speed work. It paid off as I clocked faster miles and finished with a personal record. My first mile was a little over 8 minutes, but I doubt the accuracy of the mile marker. I’m not that fast even on a relatively flat course on a cloudy, cool morning. But, I was running with Lori and I’m sure she pushed me to a faster 5K (26:26) and 10K time overall. I finished at 53:45 just behind Lori who had more energy for a sprint at the finish line. That’s a personal record for me.

At the finish line, we met up with Sean, who had been cheering us on and snapping pictures and then waited for the awards. Based on Sean’s assessment that few, if any, of the women who finished ahead of us in the 10K looked to be in our age groups, we expected to win something. And we did.

I placed second in my age group. Lori placed first in hers and took home her first turkey. I like small community races.

We celebrated with breakfast at our local greasy spoon and then went home and napped.

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Familia

De pollos y privilegios

I wasn’t leaving my parent’s house, just loading up my car and clearing my laundry baskets from the living room. As I loaded the trunk with my baskets, Papá Chepe and Mamá Toni looked on from their swing beneath the broad shade of la mora (the mulberry tree).

I put the second basket in, closed my trunk and walked over to them.

“Your trunk is big,” Papá Chepe observed. I didn’t argue or try to explain that my old car had a bigger trunk.

Mamá Toni agreed and added, “You can fit a couple of pollos in there. Two, no three, one on top.”

In case you’re unclear on the terminology, my grandparents had just sized up my car’s usefulness for smuggling migrants across the border.

I remained silent, took a seat between them, and listened as they told me about my cousin, V, and her husband who live in Arizona. Well, lived. V’s family is one of thousands of families with mixed immigration status and citizenship. She and her two daughters are citizens, but her husband is not. I had no clue about this until recently; it’s not as if I ask my family members if they are here legally or not. I’m unsure if V’s return to Zacatecas is related to SB 1070, but do know it has to do with her husband’s immigration status.

My grandparents didn’t seem worried or even saddened about V’s family’s move. They used the same matter-of-fact tone as they had discussed my trunk’s ampleness earlier. I was a little saddened. I rarely see my cousin and her family. I had just seen V reunited with her siblings and parents scattered from California to West Virginia in the spring for her niece’s First Communion reception. There were a lot of joyful tears at that surprise reunion.

That afternoon, I was once again reminded that I’m not as removed from the recent immigrant experience, especially that of undocumented immigrants, as I tend to believe. My mother and father’s families migrated legally in the 60s. They have the benefit of legal residency or US citizenship. My cousins were born here and thanks to the 14th Amendment, we’re all citizens too. We can access federal and state financial aid (yay loans!), work legally in this country, obtain an ID or driver’s license, and travel freely to Mexico. We don’t “live in the shadows” nor fear that local law enforcement will turn us in to ICE if stopped at random traffic checkpoints.

I get angry and upset over the lack of any real immigration reform, the stalling on the DREAM Act, and Arizona’s SB 1070. But it’s an anger over general injustice. It’s all kind of abstract until it affects my family.

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Blog/tech

Fourth grade blues

Lotería Chicana turned 9 years old a few days ago. November 7th, to be exact. I don’t keep track of these things like I should.

If my blog was a kid, she’d be in 4th grade.

LC is having a tough time in school. She’s scolded for her poor academic record and many missed assignments. When she does do her work, she lacks the enthusiasm and creativity she showed in earlier grades.

Her concerned teacher asks, “What’s wrong, LC? When you show up to class, you seem distracted.”

LC nods and admits that she is distracted and does miss class often due to her monthly trips to New York. She looks forward to PE much more than language arts, math or social studies. She’s less interested in photography too.

Her teacher doesn’t even noticed that she spends most of class cutting out pictures from magazines, listening to podcasts, passing short notes, and making mixtapes for her crush.

And finally, school isn’t like it used to be a few years ago. Her best friends moved and now go to different schools. Some of them stopped going to school all together.

Maybe middle school will be better for LC.

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