Miami Herald: When the history of immigration reform is written, four young immigrants in Miami likely will be hailed as the inspiration for a national movement to legalize those who are undocumented.
Gabriela Pacheco of Ecuador, Felipe Matos of Brazil, Juan Rodriguez of Colombia and Carlos Roa of Venezuela walked 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C., in January 2010 to promote immigration reform, especially the DREAM Act bill that would offer green cards to more than 2 million undocumented youths brought to the United States. as children.
Their effort has inspired more than a half dozen similar events across the country, including one walk now taking place from San Francisco to Washington. They also caused dozens of undocumented young immigrants across the nation to come forward and reveal their immigration status as a way to spark a national pro-immigration reform movement akin to the 1960s civil right struggle.
“We woke up a sleeping giant,” Pacheco said.
One of the youths inspired by the actions of the Miami walkers was José Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant journalist from the Philippines who helped the Washington Post win a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Vargas was the keynote speaker at the March 15 annual dinner of the Miami immigrant rights group Americans for Immigrant Justice, which represents the three undocumented immigrants who took part in the historic walk.
“You know, the DREAM Act movement, such as it is, doesn’t really have a leader”, Vargas said in his speech. “But I have to say that the closest it comes to a leader is you.”
Vargas was addressing Pacheco, who introduced him at the dinner.
Recently the three undocumented youths met with a reporter and photographer from El Nuevo Herald while the fourth walker, green card holder Rodriguez, spoke by phone from California. They told their stories and of how the walk came about.
Pacheco, 27, came to Miami with her parents when she was 7. At Miami Dade College, she became an outstanding student, earning three degrees in Music Education, Early Childhood Education and Special Education K Through 12. She also led several prestigious student bodies including student government for the state of Florida in 2006.
In January 2006, during a meeting of the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board, Pacheco was among the first undocumented immigrants in the country to reveal her status. Though out of school, now, Pacheco remains involved in the pro-legalization movement.
Matos, 26, was 14 when his mother sent him from Rio to live with relatives in Miami. After studying International Relations at MDC, Matos is expecting to graduate soon from St. Thomas University in business administration.
Roa arrived in New York from Caracas with his family when he was 2 in 1989. When their tourist visas expired, they overstayed and moved to Miami two years later. His mother became ill with breast cancer and died in 2006. He plans to graduate this year from MDC where he’s been studying architecture.
The original idea for the walk came from Rodriguez who had discussed it with other activists during a dinner in New York in late September 2009 after immigration reform stalled in Congress.
“We were all depressed and I remember one night Juan Rodríguez called me and said, ‘I’m going to walk to Washington, will you come with me?’ ” said Matos, who asked Rodríguez to wait a few months to better organize the event.
Rodriguez, 22, was undocumented for 13 years after his family arrived in Miami from Colombia. But he obtained a green card because his stepmother, a U.S. citizen, filed an immigration petition for him.
The four youths met while studying at Miami Dade College. They were also members of Students Working for Equal Rights.
Gabriela Pacheco of Ecuador, Felipe Matos of Brazil, Juan Rodriguez of Colombia and Carlos Roa of Venezuela walked 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C., in January 2010 to promote immigration reform, especially the DREAM Act bill that would offer green cards to more than 2 million undocumented youths brought to the United States. as children.
Their effort has inspired more than a half dozen similar events across the country, including one walk now taking place from San Francisco to Washington. They also caused dozens of undocumented young immigrants across the nation to come forward and reveal their immigration status as a way to spark a national pro-immigration reform movement akin to the 1960s civil right struggle.
“We woke up a sleeping giant,” Pacheco said.
One of the youths inspired by the actions of the Miami walkers was José Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant journalist from the Philippines who helped the Washington Post win a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Vargas was the keynote speaker at the March 15 annual dinner of the Miami immigrant rights group Americans for Immigrant Justice, which represents the three undocumented immigrants who took part in the historic walk.
“You know, the DREAM Act movement, such as it is, doesn’t really have a leader”, Vargas said in his speech. “But I have to say that the closest it comes to a leader is you.”
Vargas was addressing Pacheco, who introduced him at the dinner.
Recently the three undocumented youths met with a reporter and photographer from El Nuevo Herald while the fourth walker, green card holder Rodriguez, spoke by phone from California. They told their stories and of how the walk came about.
Pacheco, 27, came to Miami with her parents when she was 7. At Miami Dade College, she became an outstanding student, earning three degrees in Music Education, Early Childhood Education and Special Education K Through 12. She also led several prestigious student bodies including student government for the state of Florida in 2006.
In January 2006, during a meeting of the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board, Pacheco was among the first undocumented immigrants in the country to reveal her status. Though out of school, now, Pacheco remains involved in the pro-legalization movement.
Matos, 26, was 14 when his mother sent him from Rio to live with relatives in Miami. After studying International Relations at MDC, Matos is expecting to graduate soon from St. Thomas University in business administration.
Roa arrived in New York from Caracas with his family when he was 2 in 1989. When their tourist visas expired, they overstayed and moved to Miami two years later. His mother became ill with breast cancer and died in 2006. He plans to graduate this year from MDC where he’s been studying architecture.
The original idea for the walk came from Rodriguez who had discussed it with other activists during a dinner in New York in late September 2009 after immigration reform stalled in Congress.
“We were all depressed and I remember one night Juan Rodríguez called me and said, ‘I’m going to walk to Washington, will you come with me?’ ” said Matos, who asked Rodríguez to wait a few months to better organize the event.
Rodriguez, 22, was undocumented for 13 years after his family arrived in Miami from Colombia. But he obtained a green card because his stepmother, a U.S. citizen, filed an immigration petition for him.
The four youths met while studying at Miami Dade College. They were also members of Students Working for Equal Rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment