OC Woman Among DREAMERS Risking Arrest in D.C. [Updated]

Antonia Rivera of the Orange County Dream Team is among a national group of more than twenty DREAMERS who staged sit-ins today in the offices of elected officials in Washington D.C. The activists have singled out Senator Menendez, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Senator Feinstein, Senator McCain, and Senator Schumer in this brave action that places the youth at risk for both arrest and deportation. With the likeliness of Comprehensive Immigration Reform being addressed slimming down by the day, the DREAMERS are pushing for legislation that would act as a stand alone bill in helping provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented college students. Their dedication to this cause has been displayed in recent months by protests that put most complacent citizens to shame in terms of practicing democracy in action.

No official news has been reported, but the Facebook page for Dreamactivist.org states that 13 have been arrested already. Undocumented immigrants from Illinois, Virginia, New York, California, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, and Michigan all came together in the nation’s capital for today’s action. Rivera provides a glimpse into her struggle on another facebook page encouraging others to support her DREAM. She says, “Over the years, I’ve lobbied and presented to many including the college board. Yet, I am still “9ine digits away from my dream” and I am not sure how my childhood friends will react to that. It has been a bittersweet journey and I have given a lot up for DREAM, including my family in the mid-west. But I feel the DREAM coming not just for me, but for my younger sister and the numerous friends that I’ve had the privileged to work with throughout the years.” Rivera is joined by fellow Californian Laura Lopez. I haven’t received word about Orange County’s own, but another OCDT’er posted in McCain’s office notes that police have just arrived there.

I will update this post with more information as it comes. In the meantime,  supporters from California are being urged to call Senator Feinstein’s office at (310) 914-7300

and demand legislative action for the DREAM Act. All the while, The Liberal OC continues to lament supposed ‘blackmail’ against Congresswoman Sanchez by the OCDT and earlier had nothing but patronizing attitudes towards the undocumented activists and their allies as to the so-called enlightened way of going about things!

About Gabriel San Roman