Students walk out, demand Ryan take action on DACA

By the urgent tone of her voice, Yareli Suarez sounds as though she’s fighting for her life, the only life the 16year-old has known since being brought to the United States illegally by her parents at age 3.

“A lot of undocumented youth are in danger,” Suarez said Monday morning after walking out of class with other Riverside University High School students to demand federal legislation to protect immigrants like her from deportation.

Monday marked the deadline President Donald Trump imposed on Congress to pass permanent legislation for those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or “Dream Act.”

That meant the Trump administration would no longer accept new DACA applications, and renewals would only be processed for those whose DACA status expired by March 5.

But in January a federal judge in California ruled that the administration used flawed legal reasoning when it decided to end the Obama-era program, and ordered it to continue processing DACA renewals past March 5.

“It’s scary,” said Suarez, a Riverside junior who has no memory of her native Mexico, is not fluent in Spanish and dreads being forcibly sent to a country she does not know.

“That means not being able to see my siblings.“

Students from Riverside, South Division and Reagan high schools in Milwaukee left classes and held rallies outside the schools before boarding buses for Racine and another rally near Republican congressman Paul Ryan’s office.

There they planned to demand that the speaker of the House of Representatives allow a vote on a “clean Dream Act bill” that creates a path to citizenship and does not include funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

A poll released Monday suggests the students have support among Wisconsin voters.

The Marquette Law School Poll found 86% said DACA immigrants should have a path to citizenship, 8% said they should be permanent residents, while 4% said they should leave the country.

Seventy-one percent favored a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently working in the U.S. Fourteen percent said the undocumented workers could stay as guest workers, but 9% said the undocumented workers should leave the country.

“I am a proud immigrant,” Mohamed Yarcop, 20, a South Division senior from Thailand, told about 150 people outside the school.

Yarcop described the lack of educational opportunities in his native Thailand, which drove his parents to come to the U.S. as refugees.

He decried the president’s efforts to restrict the flow of refugees and other immigrants into the U.S.

“One does not make a country great again by treating people like garbage.” Yarcop declared.

“You don’t know the struggles and obstacles that our people, hard-work-

ing people, including my parents, went through just to get here.”

“Being president means respecting the diversity of the country you are living in,” Yarcop continued.

Enrique Moreno, 18, a South Division senior, reminded people that America is a nation “built by immigrants.”

“South Division is evidence of this. Look how many beautiful cultures we have here,” he said. “Look at all the languages we speak. This is our country; this is our home.”

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court told the Justice Department that the DACA case must go through the regular appeals process, which means it now goes back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in California.

That court is expected to rule this summer, and the earliest the Supreme Court could accept the case would be in October, pushing a final ruling possibly into 2019.

Until then, Suarez said she and other young immigrants will refuse to be used as bargaining chips for an anti-immigrant agenda, demand protection for their parents and families, and continue the fight to remain in the only country they’ve ever called home.

“Don’t be scared to come out here and tell your story,” she said. “Because that’s what empowers people.”

A statement from Ryan spokesperson Jordan Dunn said Ryan is trying to reach consensus with colleagues on a plan “that protects these young people while also strengthening border security and better enforcing our immigration laws.”

At the Racine protest, about 20 people were arrested, including congressional candidates Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers.

The arrests were made after a small group from among about 250 demonstrators sat in the intersection of 6th and Main streets, near Ryan’s Racine office, according to Sam Singleton-Freeman, an organizer with Voces de la Frontera, an immigrants rights organization.

Those arrested were engaging in a peaceful act of civil disobedience, according to Lauren Hitt, spokeswoman for Bryce.

Bryce, a union ironworker, and Myers, a public school teacher and Janesville School Board member, will compete in the August Democratic primary for the chance to challenge Ryan in the November election.

Others arrested included state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa and Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West, Singleton-Freeman said.