Supporters rally for DREAM Act in downtown*Tulsa Read more from this Tulsa World art

More than a dozen people, the majority college students, rallied in support of the DREAM Act in downtown Tulsa on Thursday as a part of the national Right to Dream campaign.

The DREAM Act, which stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, is a bill that would open a path to conditional permanent U.S. residency for undocumented youths who attend college or serve in the military.

Holding up signs reading “Right to live with our loved ones” and chanting “Education not deportation,” some at the rally are children of undocumented residents and others are just friends and supporters.

Kasey Hughart, a sociology senior at the University of Tulsa, is one of the rally’s organizers.

“We just want undocumented youth to know we support them,” said Hughart, who is a fourth-generation Mexican American. “The current immigration system is so outdated. It’s separating families.”

A similar rally was being held Thursday afternoon in Oklahoma City in Woodson Park. Many of Hughart’s friends are undocumented, although she didn’t know it before she met them.

“I got to know them first, then found out they were undocumented. Generally I respect people for who they are, not where they come from,” she said.

Paul Gonzalez and his parents came to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, more than a decade ago. Now a sophomore at Tulsa Community College, immigration policies and the idea behind the DREAM Act are meaningful to him.

“To me it’s important. It’s a part of me,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a human thing. If someone’s fallen down, why not help him out?”

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