Thousands of immigrant youth and allies stormed Washington, D.C. and walked out of schools in nearly a dozen states yesterday in support of a clean Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) fix, but one group of activists, with the help of Overpass Light Brigade, left their final action of the day for the one man who has the power to bring the DREAM Act to the floor Monday morning:
Lighted letters spelling D-R-E-A-M A-C-T N-O-W moved steadily down St. Lawrence Avenue as more than 100 protesters marched to Rep. Paul Ryan's house Thursday to demand protection for young undocumented immigrants.
Janesville protesters aimed to put pressure on House Speaker Ryan to pass a "clean Dream Act" before the end of the year, said Elliott Magers of Milwaukee-based Voces de le Frontera, which organized the protest.
A clean Dream Act means Congress will not add other policies that could harm or obstruct Dreamers' lives, according to the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
If Ryan bothered to meet with his constituents, he’d know that there are nearly 8,000 DACA recipients who know no other place but Wisconsin as their home. But, Ryan refuses to meet with immigrant youth, leaving them to gather peacefully outside his church and even follow him to speeches in New York City in hopes of a face-to-face.
If he bothered to meet with his constituents, he’d get to know 25-year-old Alejandra Govantes, a pharmacy technician. Govantes has the passion and drive to keep rising in her field, but without a DREAM Act, she can’t.
Govantes was among the Dreamers and immigrant families who have been torn apart by mass deportation policies to gather outside Ryan’s house. “Govantes' family has lived in Janesville almost 17 years,” writes the GazetteXtra’s Ashley McCallum.
“They moved to the U.S. from Mexico when Govantes was a child, and she considers Janesville her home”:
After Trump was elected, Govantes said and her 21-year-old brother thought it was too risky for their undocumented parents to continue working. Govantes said she works as a paraprofessional at Edison Middle School and as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens to support her family.
She said her dream is to work in the medical field, and she was able to accomplish that with help from DACA.
"I was nervous at first coming to his (Ryan's) house because it is his temple," Govantes said.
When immigration officers deport someone, they often go to that person's home—a private space where people feel safe, Govantes said.
She said she and other Dreamers hope protesting at Ryan's home will show him how important these policies are to his constituents.
Immigrant youth at the protest noted Ryan once supported the DREAM Act, legislation which has been introduced without success in Congress for years now. But, the stakes are different this time. Immigrant youth had been able to depend on DACA protections for five years, but Donald Trump ended the program, and without a DREAM Act, 1,400 DACA youth will lose their protections every single day. This is up to Congress—and Ryan—to fix, and now.