8 Lessons From "Inappropriate Behavior" for the DREAM Act

http://immigration.change.org/blog/v..._the_dream_act


Twenty-one undocumented youth showed extraordinary courage yesterday as they put their lives on the line to conduct a peaceful sit-in for the DREAM Act, which would give them a pathway to citizenship. ,But Congress seems unimpressed and unmoved by the gesture.

Instead of issuing a supportive statement for these brave students, a spokesperson for Senator Richard Durbin -- one of the lead sponsors of the DREAM Act -- chastised the students by stating that the civil disobedience action "crossed the line from passionate advocacy to inappropriate behavior ... Sen. Durbin believes that we will win this fight on the merits, not through public demonstrations or publicity stunts."

Of course, the spokesperson completely overlooks the fact that momentum for the DREAM Act has been gained through public demonstrations and so-called publicity stunts more than debate over the merits of the legislation. What's really inappropriate here?

1. How about the way Congress is holding over two million DREAMs hostage, deferring the passage of the legislation for yet another year. If the DREAM Act is indeed popular and meritorious (and we do not doubt that), why hasn't Congress passed it in the past nine years it has been in existence? Inaction is inappropriate behavior.

2. The fact that Senator McCain is turning his back on DREAM Act students to win a primary challenge from an anti-immigrant contender who is trailing him by more than 20 points.

3. It's more than inappropriate to keep losing family members and friends to deportation and death, and to have to deal with the ever-present threat of suicide.

4. President Obama promised the DREAM Act as something that could be done immediately. For a constitutional lawyer, his interpretation of "immediately" is quite bad.

5. It's inappropriate that undocumented students have to risk putting themselves in deportation to convince Congress to grow a pair and do the right thing. (It's probably inappropriate to expect politicians to have a conscience.)

6. The fact that Senator Schumer and his staffers hold DREAM Act students in contempt, spread rumors in order to divide and conquer immigration advocates, while holding the penning of a comprehensive bill hostage and not taking calls from his own constituency is entirely inappropriate.

7. It is inappropriate for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to patronize undocumented students by telling them that, while the caucus supports the DREAM Act, it is adamantly set against pushing the legislation on its own merits.

8. This post is probably going to be read by Congressional staffers and immigration reform advocates and classified as "inappropriate behavior."

If undocumented student activists are behaving in an inappropriate manner, they certainly learned from the very best teachers in Congress.

What exactly did the students do?

I was wondering the same thing.

I did some research and it looks like they did a "peaceful sit-in".

Why would they do it at Durbin's office though. Isn't he already for the DREAM Act?

Great said! I feel exactly same way.

Here is the link to the Washington Post article on this today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn..._Comments.html

I hate to harp, but you will notice over 200 comments, the majority of which are highly negative toward DREAM as amnesty etc. When do we get the guts to comment back against this with rational arguments? Are we always going to let the xenophobes control public debate, even on rational news websites like this?

It's not about changing their mind by arguing. It's about convincing everybody- the haters, neutrals as well as supporters that we exist.

You might encourage other people who feel like there's nobody on their side. You might make a hater think twice about his arguments.

You might even convince someone who's on the fence.

Dream act feels soo far away

Exactly. If you read the comments on the article as it is now, it would appear that everybody who has read it completely disagrees with the DREAM Act. If you were a politician and you saw that, would that make you more or less likely to support it.

If, on the other hand, a bunch of us post responses against their lies, it makes it clear that not everybody supports deportation as an immigration policy.

Great article!

I don't think senator Durbin understands what the word "inappropriate" means.

Besides, I think it's really sad how people stereotype all immigrants as criminals.