#dreamact

Humorous Video of Prerna Lal speaking about the DREAM Act movement at the South Asian Americans Leading Together Changemaker Reception, April 1, 2011. She currently faces deportation from the United States. Her grandparent is an American citizen and her parents are green-card holders. You can read more about her story on her blog here.

My name is Him Ranjit and I am undocumented.

I am originally from Nepal. My dad came to the U.S. in 1996 to study and to work to support his family, including extended family. My mom and I migrated here when I was 10, in 2001, to reunite as a family. We came here on a travel visa to visit my dad, but we ended up staying with an expired visa. After my visa expired, my family was classified as being “illegal.” The first time I heard the term was when I became aware of my status. The derogatory term “illegal” has been used to describe me on numerous occasions, though I am American by heart and undocumented because of my status. Overall, my family and community have been pretty supportive of me being open about my status and taking up the immigrant rights cause, even though they were hesitant in the beginning. We’re fighting for our lives and we won’t stop until we win.

I grew up in Euless, Texas, a city between Dallas and Fort Worth. The community I grew up in was very diverse and accepting of different cultures. I grew up in this country envisioning a great future as an American. But on the path to my dreams, I have found roadblocks everywhere I go due to the broken immigration system. From trying to get into a university to getting a drivers license to working part-time to pay for school, I’ve had to go through obstacles because of my status over things that some consider commonplace.

I am a future engineer studying Biomedical Engineering and Government at University of Texas, Austin. I am an active student here in the UT community, involved in University Leadership Initiative, getting people out to vote and being involved in sports and other activities. I am, by any means, like many UT Austin sophomore students: I study till late at night, work out in Gregory Gym, go to the football games, stand in the long lines at Wendy’s and sometimes nap on the couches of the Texas Union in between classes. I am very much like everybody in this university, except for a nine-digit number to identify me.

For more, check out the Drop the I-Wordcampaign.

FromMeltIce.net

Saad was born in Bangladesh and brought to the United States in 1994 at the age of three. His father filed for political asylum. The claim was denied and his father elected to not leave the United States resulting in the entire family being put into proceedings. At the same time Saad’s uncle filed an immigrant visa for his father in 1999. The father was advised to hide until the petition was approved. The petition was approved by the National Visa Center in 2009 and is currently in Bangladesh for processing although it is felt the father will be denied a visa based on his being deported.

Saad had absolutely no knowledge of any of this as a child. It was only when Saad was in high school and preparing to go to college that he learned he was not a citizen. Saad was an excellent student and graduated from Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas with honors. He was accepted to such institutions as Texas A&M University, Baylor University, University Texas- Austin, University of Oklahoma and Southern Methodist University. Due to financial issues, Saad accepted a full scholarship to University Texas- Arlington in the field of Electrical Engineering. His life in America and his education came to an abrupt halt when he was detained on November 24, 2009 for forty two days in Batavia, New York and deported to Bangladesh on January 6, 2010.

Saad is currently in Malaysia as his supporters try to figure out a way to bring him back to the United States.

Taha Mowla was one of the first “Education Not Deportation” campaigns ran by DreamActivist in 2009 with the support of SEIU.

Taha was set for deportation on July 29, 2009 to Bangladesh - a country that he has no memory of or connection to. His parents brought him to America from Bangladesh in 1993, when he was only 2 years of age. He has lived in Jersey City for more than 18 years.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez wrote the Department of Homeland Security on Taha’s behalf, requesting that they defer action on Taha’s deportation because “our nation benefits more by his presence thank by his absence.”

Prerna Lal, Fiji-Indian DREAM-Act-eligible youth currently facing deportation from the United States (via @queerdesi)

Like Jose Antonio Vargas, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area: headquarters of tech giants like Google and Facebook, and also home to the SF Giants, who I might mention are World Series champions.  It’s a place of opportunity and innovation, and a place that’s full of immigrant families like my own. 

Mandeep Chahal speaking in Washington D.C. about winning a stay of deportation. Full transcript