Students march in D.C. to support DREAM Act

In the wake of recent attention surrounding immigration reform laws, students at Princeton united to form DREAM Team, an organization dedicated to building support for immigration reform at the University. The group takes its name from the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, a bill currently before Congress that would enable children of illegal immigrants to earn permanent residency, provided that they earn a bachelor’s degree or serve in the armed forces for two years.

Members of DREAM Team were among the roughly dozen students who joined tens of thousands of immigrants and activists to rally for immigration reform at the March for America in Washington, D.C., on March 21.

“It was really intense and interesting, and it was worthwhile,” Alicia Corona ’13 said. “It was a chance to see 200,000 people coming together for the same cause.”

Jinju Pottenger ’10, a DREAM Team member who attended the rally, said the idea to form the group was sparked during a dinner at sociology professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly’s house. Students from Fernandez-Kelly’s course, SOC 227: Race and Ethnicity, and students from WRI 142: Refugees, Immigrants, and Social Justice, attended the dinner, during which Fernandez-Kelly raised the idea of investigating the DREAM Act as a possible final project for some of her students.

DREAM Team members were also inspired by ideas discussed in WRI 142, which professor William Westerman, who teaches the seminar, said explores issues that transcend politics.

“No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you can find a group of persecuted refugees that you can identify with and support,” Westerman said. “And you can also find a group ... that you think [is] not legitimate.”

Corona is currently enrolled in the class, which Westerman is teaching for the fourth year, while Pottenger took it during her freshman year.

Pottenger said the seminar tends to attract international students or students from immigrant families. Westerman noted, however, that the class focuses on forced migration rather than immigration policy, adding that he attempts to teach without prejudicing students against any one viewpoint.

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“[Westerman] always tries to encourage us to go to extraneous lectures and panels,” said Carina De La Paz ’13, a student in his class. But on the last day of spring break, several students, including De La Paz, went further, traveling to the nation’s capital to stand up for a cause they believe in.

Students said they appreciated the opportunity to take part in such a large-scale event.

“I always think it’s good if you believe in a cause to go support it in D.C.,” Briyana Davis ’13 said. “What better place to go?”

Westerman said the rally attracted people from all across the nation. “I met people from West Palm Beach, Florida; Minnesota; El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico; Chicago and Detroit — who all came by bus,” he said.

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During the event, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, both delivered speeches, while President Barack Obama sent a video message of support.

Corona said that the event was largely geared toward the Hispanic community, noting that some speeches were given in Spanish. “I could understand how it would be kind of difficult for some people, because some of the speeches were in Spanish, and there was that Hispanic influence going on,” she said. She added that Hispanics were strongly represented at the march, but that not all attendees were Hispanic.

Though the rally occurred during the height of the health-care reform debate and the day after a protest marking the anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Corona said that those attending the rally were not distracted from their cause. “People had expected the immigration march to kind of be overshadowed by health care, but I didn’t feel that way at all while I was there,” she explained. “Everyone was really riled up and ready to go.”

Despite the enthusiasm, Westerman noted a degree of “confusion and disorganization” during the march following the rally, noting that the protesters did not follow the originally planned route. “We never really found out about marching anywhere, except until the end of the day when people went to the bus — and that became a kind of impromptu march,” he said. “I’m not sure how well-organized the actual march itself was.”

But Corona said the changes to the route, which allowed the students to walk through local neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., “ended up being really nice, because we got to meet people and [assess] how they were reacting to what we were protesting ... Everybody was really supportive.”

The DREAM Team has planned a series of events for the week beginning April 12 to raise awareness and gain support, including speeches by former University students and undocumented immigrants Dan-el Padilla ’06 and Harold Fernandez ’89. Events also include faculty and student panels and a screening of the documentary “Papers,” which chronicles the lives of undocumented youth.