Although I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in political science, I am unable to use my degree to work because I am undocumented. Not only do I face a difficult time in finding ways to work, I also faced constant fear of deportation — until President Barack Obama made an announcement last Friday to stop deportation and provide work permits to a select group of DREAMers who meet requirements under a new immigration policy.
This historic announcement would not have been possible without the courageous DREAMers who stood up and shared their stories, held events and rallies, contacted elected officials and led hunger strikes and civil disobedience actions despite risking deportation. After many years of collaborative efforts to demand justice and equality, the federal government finally made a move to provide very limited and temporary relief for many undocumented young people in this country.
For many years, I have lived in fear of deportation and permanently leaving the country I call home. The fear of being separated from my friends, my family and my community; the fear of not being accepted within my own community; the fear of contacting the police in a time of need and the fear of losing my hope and dreams after graduating from college. Today, I feel liberated from these fears. Because of this announcement, I can now better focus on preparing for my master’s degree program, provide for my family and continue to advocate for the federal DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform.
Prior to June 15, 2012, I was unable to get a job, apply for internships or qualify for financial aid. Thus, I had to work more than 30 hours of week at a Japanese restaurant, mopping floors and washing dishes, and get paid below minimum wage under the table while I commuted to school and enrolled as a full-time student at Laney College in Oakland. Sometimes I had to stay up all night to apply for limited scholarship opportunities to meet the deadlines. Today, I feel free from these obstacles. Because of this announcement, I will have open doors to new opportunities to use my degree to work and contribute back to society. Not only will I have the chance to work to support my schoolwork, but also I have the capacity to support my family. As one of my fellow DREAMers said, “I feel I am normal again.”
With this announcement, approximately 800,000 young peoples’ dreams are now protected, at least temporarily.This is huge victory for the undocumented community, but the fight is not over. There are thousands of other young DREAMers who are not eligible to apply for deferred action or work permits because of strict requirements under the policy change. For example, DREAMers who are over 30 years old cannot qualify to receive deferred action or work permits. Moving forward, we must stay involved and work with the Obama administration to include all DREAMers, because they also have the right to DREAM.
Finally, we must continue to fight for the federal DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform because this policy is only a temporary solution. Now, more than ever, we have strength, conviction and power in our hands to organize, mobilize and take collective action to solve our broken immigration system. Soon, we will fulfill all 11.5 million dreams.
Ju Hong served as an ASUC Senator for the 2011-12 school year.
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Obama is basically saying it’s okay to break this law because it’s stupid; I agree the current immigration policy sucks as a naturalized citizen myself. But, if there is an issue with the law, you change the law. Obama is undermining the current rule of law that this nation has…This of course comes with a lot of negative implications.
I’m also surprised how, this writer has not been deported yet? How was he allowed to become a senator in ASUC? How has he been able to publicly wave his illegal status and get away with it?
BTW, look at this guy’s website
http://www.asuc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=183&Itemid=60
it’s crying out loud ‘US taxpayer dollars for the illegals’ all over the page
So you are saying that the taxpayers should foot the bill for illegals like yourself to attend college, while the out of state citizen/PRs have to pay the out of state tuition …. and everyone has to deal with 10% hikes every year…
WTF is wrong with Cal?
Why aren’t you deported yet ? What is Dept of Homeland Security doing? I’ve paid my taxes and dues – now get to work
When a million Mexicans marched for amnesty in Los Angeles a few years ago, I asked a close Mexican American friend of mine if he marched for amnesty with them. He said yes. I asked him why and he told me that they are good hard working people that deserve a chance. So I asked him if he would join the march if 12 million Arabs, or Russians, or Chinese were marching for amnesty, and he said “who cares about them”. Every one is self serving. I asked a Priest who marched if the 12 million asking for amnesty were Muslim instead of Catholic, would you be marching for them. He said that he did not think about it. The point is that we have a mathematical problem that has to be addressed by law and not emotional self serving bullsh*t that hurts everyone.
Sloppy logic, peepsqueek.
Muslims are unique. Their religion is unique. Its core tenets require Muslims to look upon others as subservient and unworthy. Its core tenets require Sharia law, a law which abhors man-made laws like OUR Constitution.
Muslims are unqiue among all people and unlike any other people their right to live here should be questioned above all else. (Am I allowed to write this or has the First Amendment been modified to accomodate Islamic demands?)
I agree, except for the part about my sloppy logic. Members of the United Nations sign on to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, while Islamic Countries subscribe only to Sharia law as prescribed in the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights
In a joint written statement submitted by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status, the Association for World Education (AWE) and the Association of World Citizens (AWC): a number of concerns were raised, that the CAIRO DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS limits Human Rights, Religious Freedom and Freedom of Expression. It concludes: “The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam is clearly an attempt to limit the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants. It can in no sense be seen as complementary to the UN Universal Declaration.”
The Centre for Inquiry in September 2008 in an article to the United Nations writes that the CAIRO DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: “undermines the equality of persons and freedom of expression and religion by imposing restrictions on nearly every human right based on Islamic Sharia law.”
The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights concludes in article 24 and 25 that all rights and freedoms mentioned are subject to the Islamic Shariah, which is the declaration’s sole source.
Excellent point, peepsqueek.
You write exactly what we will never read in leftist periodicals like the Daily Californian, i.e., the truth.
Yes, it is true, Islamic countries refuse to sign on to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and instead created the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights. The Islamic version refuses to acknowledge equal rights for non-Muslims, or equality of religions, or equality for women, gays, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists or Christians or Atheists.
Why won’t the Daily Californian Editorial Board write an opinion piece on this topic? Instead all they do is make excuses for Islamic supremacism and ignore the core tenets of Islam – tenets that subjugate all non-Muslims to inferior status.
(Am I allowed to write this or has the First Amendment gone by the wayside at the Daily Californian?)
Ju Hong is an illegal alien from South Korea who plans to go to law school (which is rather ironic, going to law school as someone who is breaking the law by being in that school). If he gets a work permit from Obama, he will be allowed to work legally (again, rather ironic, Obama giving an illegal alien the right to work legally in America but not the legal standing to remain here to do the work). However, his fellow countrymen from South Korea who pay out of state tuition at Cal won’t have the right to work legally in America because of their student visas. Thus foreign students who break the law are rewarded with the right to work and get free Cal Grants (courtesy of California’s DREAM Act), while those who obey the law are punished by paying out of state tuition and not having the right to work.
Ju, you are very lucky that we are here to take care of you, because your family failed. They put you in this bad situation instead of giving you the advantages of South Korea. However, I would never support a position that will give your illegal family citizenship or any benefits. They don’t deserve to benefit from illegal actions or from the bad situation they subjected you to. If they would have stayed in South Korea, you would be living a much better life right now.
Ju Hong, this “fear” you’re feeling is a result of a decision your family made to enter the US illegally or overstay your visa, so don’t blame this country for the predicament you find yourself in. Unfortunately, Obama’s latest immigration policy provides you with only a temporary solution and no long term answers to your status. The CIR he promised never materialized despite the fact he had his first two years in office to get it passed.
I always find it disturbing to hear illegal aliens demanding “justice and equality” as if the US dragged you here and forced you to remain in this country. Where does this sense of entitlement come from? Is it because this country gives and as a result, you continue to demand?
There needs to be CIR, but how do we do this without increasing the flow of illegal aliens across our porous borders? Yes, you are the type of person that can contribute to this country, but what about the millions that don’t? In SoCal, more than 50% never graduate from high school, many are in gangs, many are occupying our prisons, many are illegally gaming our social services, etc. costing us BILLIONS of dollars. The liberal media allows us to only hear about the successful ones like yourself without discussing the negative impact of years of unchecked illegal immigration. In 1986, Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million and what did this give us? It gave us over 12 million more illegal aliens hoping for another amnesty. One more amnesty would probably produce 3-4 times the number today. What practical solution would you propose without it producing a negative financial & social impact on this nation?
The United States is broke and there are over 20million AMERICANS without jobs. Sorry but I’m not paying for your dream and neither should anyone else. If you want
to be a US Citizen get in the back of the line with everyone else or join the
military. This is unfair to those who did it the RIGHT way.
[Although I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in political
science, I am unable to use my degree to work because I am
undocumented.]
Then GO HOME to your native country of citizenship, and be glad you got a subsidized education courtesy of the US taxpayers, which is far more than you would get in most countries if you entered them illegally. If you think the Japanese government provides free handouts or tolerates illegal aliens, then you clearly have no clue what goes on in the real world. Japanese immigration authorities wouldn’t hesitate to detain and deport you if you were caught overstaying a 6-month tourist visa. They certainly wouldn’t let you get a work permit, much less apply for any form of financial aid. Really now, just STFU and leave…
FWIW, I recognized Mr Hong’s name as Korean but was under the impression that he might have been of Japanese nationality (Koreans are Japan’s largest ethnic group). My argument still stands – his country of birth/citizenship wouldn’t think of extending the types of freebies he has already received in this country.
Adios MoFo
If you’re over 30 years old and illegal, wouldn’t you say your “dream” is pretty much over? I mean, you’re no longer a vulnerable teenager afraid of being deported to a homeland you never knew. You are a grown adult who just recently sneaked into the U.S., thus deserving no sympathy, or you’re an illegal resident with 30 years to prepare yourself psychologically for an eventual deportation. Ju Hong at least is honest in telling us that the goal of “immigration reform” is not to open doors for intelligent young college students, but to fling the gates wide open to everyone that wants a piece of the American pie without paying for it.
Let me begin by
writing that this action by Obama is not something I am intimately familiar
with so some of what I write below may not be entirely accurate or fair.
With that
acknowledged let me state this reminds me of the usual political pandering the
left commonly utilizes to win elections. It reminds me of what the liberal
parties have done in Europe where they have enacted legislation which has
allowed millions of Muslims to immigrate to Europe, knowing full well the
Muslims will vote for the liberal candidates; as they – the liberals – will acquiesce
to Muslim demands. By doing this the liberals have won many close elections
which they would have lost without enacting these self-serving policies.
Now, of course,
Europe is littered with Muslims many of whom are on the public dole, at a time
when most European countries do not have the financial wherewithal to deal with
basic necessities. On top of this crime in Europe by Muslims has skyrocketed.
But the liberal main-stream media rarely touches this ‘sensitive’ subject and
the liberals are happy because they are winning elections while Europe burns.
Obama’s Jobs Program for Illegals…vote hustling…
The Obama Administration, in an obvious attempt to boost the President’s flailing reelection campaign, announced that it would bypass Congress and rewrite the nation’s immigration laws.
The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
This is why you can never believe what The Liar in Chief says, Last year The Liar said,
“The fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the Dream Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true,” Obama told us last year.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, said,
“How can the Administration justify allowing illegal immigrants to work in the U.S. when millions of Americans are unemployed?” Mr. Smith said. “President Obama and his administration once again have put partisan politics and illegal immigrants ahead of the rule of law and the American people”.
Obama..Liar, criminal, empty suit, fraud.
Gosh!
It almost sounds like America is ready for a canidate who will promise us “Hope & Change” instead of “Hype & Cringe”.
Maybe someone should have whispered in Obama’s ear, “Be careful what you wish for”.
Obama’s fullfilled his fantasy of being king of the world but the sword of Damacles is way, way, way too much a burden for him to handle. He is truly a windbag amatuer and his qactions speak more loudly than his self-serving and hollow words do. He should have been a speech writer instead of president. The world would be a better place if he had followed his real skill.
7 Reasons Obama’s Amnesty For Under 30 Illegals Is Terrible Policy
By John Hawkins
1) It’s illegal: Since there are currently no work permits for illegal aliens, handing them out would require a change in the existing law. If this were a dictatorship like North Korea or Cuba, Dear Leader Barack Obama could simply issue a decree and change the law. Here in America we’re a republic which means that he unquestionably, uncontroversially cannot issue work permits for illegal aliens without a bill passing through Congress. His attempt to do so may seem like a small matter to some people, but it sets an extremely dangerous precedent that undermines democracy in our country.
2) Refusing to enforce the existing law sets a terrible precedent: As Obama himself has admitted, he ”swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books.” He is breaking that oath to try to give amnesty to illegals. Imagine the chaos that will reign if this becomes standard practice. Suppose Mitt Romney wins. Could he end the death tax or corporate taxes by telling the IRS not to enforce them? What about putting an end to hate crime laws or the endangered species act by simple choosing not to enforce them? This is the can of worms Barack Obama is ripping wide open with his imperial decree.
3) This is a temporary solution designed to be a permanent fix: Barack Obama is asking illegal aliens to sign up and apply for work permits. However, since his policy doesn’t have the force of law behind it, if Mitt Romney’s elected, he could hand those same applications to ICE for use in tracking down illegals to be deported. In fact, that’s exactly what Mitt Romney should do (Good luck with getting him to do it) since illegal aliens are by definition breaking the law and the penalty is deportation. In any case, the American people and businesses cannot effectively make long-term decisions based on important policies that can change the second a new party gets into power. Replacing laws with illegal presidential decrees creates instability and unreliability that makes for bad policy that helps paralyze the country.
4) There is no realistic way to verify the program: Illegals often use phony names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and documents. The whole idea that the government can reliably verify the documentation from hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people like this to prove they were here before they were 16, have graduated from high school, haven’t broken any laws, have lived here five years, and are under 30 is absolutely laughable. What will inevitably happen is that the bureaucrats handling it will quickly conclude that it’s futile to try to sort through this mess. They’ll also have to face legal challenges for people who are denied and so they will just rubber stamp every application that doesn’t have egregious errors in it. In other words, this process has no realistic hope of success before it even begins unless you define “success” as simply allowing just about every illegal who puts in an application to stay in the United States.
5) Billing this as a way to help children is a dodge: First of all, thirty year olds are not children. They’re adults and if they’re eligible for this program, it means they’re adults who’ve been knowingly breaking this country’s laws for 12 years. Someone like that is not worthy to receive American citizenship in the first place. Oh, but what about the real children who will be helped by this program? What about a 14 year old who was brought here five years ago by her parents? Well, can’t you see the obvious set-up here? What happens when the 14 year old’s parents are caught? Then, when the law is enforced, people will claim we’re “breaking up families.” Of course, that’s a dumb argument we don’t apply to other criminals. After all, putting burglars (who have kids) in jail breaks up families, too. Still, this policy is designed from the get-go by proponents of illegal immigration whose ultimate goal is to allow even more illegals to stay here.
6) This will encourage illegal immigration: If you can pass for 30 years old or younger and you’ve ever considered coming to America illegally, now is the time. All you have to do is get here, get some phony documentation, and chances are you’ll get to stay in the country indefinitely with a work permit. There are undoubtedly tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of illegals on the way here to take advantage of Obama’s stupidity. Moreover, what’s the long term message we’re sending with this program? It tells legal immigrants that they’re complete morons for being dumb enough to obey our laws and it tells illegals that despite all the tough talk, if they break our laws for a long enough period of time, eventually our politicians will come along and reward them for it.
7) Americans will lose jobs: We have an unemployment rate that’s over 8% and the economy seems to be stalling out again. In a rational world, we would probably dramatically slow down the number of legal immigrants we’re allowing to come here in order to give our soft economy more time to absorb already unemployed Americans. Instead, Barack Obama wants to give hundreds of thousands, if not millions of illegal immigrants work permits so they can take jobs that would otherwise go to Americans. Whatever happened to putting Americans first?
AMen
Exactly what has has happened in Belgium and the Netherlands. There are now places in Brussels where you don’t dare walk alone at night, and it’s not because of fear of being mugged by some Wallon or Fleming. A’dam, which used to be a rather clean city, has turned into a trash-littered mess in certain areas. Last time I was there, they had a worse graffiti problem than NYC. But dare complain about unfettered immigration from third-world countries and the usual idiots call you a “racist”.
Just to reiterate, I don’t know a lot about immigration policies.
That acknowledged it seems to me ours is a nation that owes much of its greatness to welcoming people who embrace the America dream of bettering one’s life. Ju Hong seems to be just the sort of person American immigration policies should be geared towards helping. For in Ju Hong it appears to be a win-win situation (other than the obvious legal issues involved in his situation).
Unfortunately, like so many political footballs, immigration policy has become a cynical tool in the hands of politicians like Obama. People for whom their interests supersedes creating intelligent policies that will help our country and our people and those who are willing to sacrifice to embrace American ideals.
You are right about Japan. Thanks, in no small part, to their close-minded immigration policies Japan is living a demographic time-bomb where the elderly far outnumber the young, and the costs of funding the needs of this aging population is destroying Japan financially. Very sad for a proud people and what has been a great country and ally for many decades. The pride before the fall, eh?
Meanwhile Obama cynically manipulates the immigration game as if it did not matter to the people involved and to our countries future. Typical Obama – the political huckster looking out for numero uno without a care in the world for the implications of his ever-changing decisions and policies.