Students Go to DC to Fight for our DREAMs
On Sunday, June 18th, 3 of us LSNA youth organizers left Logan Square to go to DC to tell our stories about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. One-hundred students from all over the country joined us (a total of 15 youth went from Chicago).
As Latinas, it was impressive to see that people from so many different ethnicities and cultures are also being affected by this same issue. We all went to DC to ask senators to support the American DREAM Act, a bill that would guarantee the right for all students to pursue our education and careers, regardless of our immigration status.
Our journey out of Chicago started at St. Patrick’s Church on Adams Street and Halsted. There we received a blessing to complete our important work. It was a long way to DC—it took us 13 long hours.
We arrived at 8 in the morning in DC where a local church agreed to house us for the night. That afternoon we were a part of DREAM graduation ceremony. There, youth from across the nation wore caps and gowns and gave speeches about how their lives are being affected by this issue, and how badly they want the opportunity to finish college and pursue the careers of their dreams.
The next day we marched to Congress to speak to our state legislators. We told our stories to representatives from Obama’s and Gutierrez’s offices—who both support our cause. Then we walked to Congressman Rahm Emmanuel’s office. There about 45 people formed an action outside of his office. We went there to tell him that we here to stay and that we won’t stop working on the DREAM Act until it passes.