Friday, November 10, 2017

IVC student prodding Rep. Walters into stronger DACA leadership

DACA recipients turn up the pressure on Mimi Walters, local Congress members
(OC Register)
By MARTIN WISCKOL
     Irvine Valley College student Rosa Rodriguez, like many among the nearly 800,000 other immigrants brought to U.S. as children, is increasingly nervous that she’ll lose her legal residency status and face deportation.
     That motivated her to meet with congressional staffers last week and plead for their boss, Rep. Mimi Walters, to take a leadership role in preserving protections made available to her and other so-called Dreamers by the Obama Administration.
     President Donald Trump announced in September that no more temporary extensions would be granted after March under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, and handed the Republican-controlled Congress the task of coming up with a replacement. But that process has largely stalled.
     Walters, who could prove a key Republican swing vote on the issue, is attracting particular attention from Dreamers and their advocates….
     “I’m in limbo,” said the 20-year-old [Rodriguez], who helps pay her bills with a part-time job at her school’s tutorial writing center. “I’m not waiting anxiously for my acceptance letter as much as I’m waiting anxiously to find out about my status. If I lose that, I probably wouldn’t go to school. I couldn’t work (legally) any more and even if I get my degree, I couldn’t work in my field.”
     Nearly 80,000 of California’s 223,000 DACA recipients are college students. More than 60,000 of those, like Rodriguez, attend community college. Rodriguez’s meeting with two Walters’ aides Nov. 7 was arranged by the South Orange County Community College District’s Public Affairs Office, as part of the school’s outreach on behalf of the more than 700 DACA recipients in the two-college district.
. . .
     Anti-illegal immigration stalwarts oppose giving legal status to anyone in the country illegally. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, is among those who have expressed reservations about extending special protections to DACA recipients.
. . .
 
     But some Republicans — including Reps. Walters, Ed Royce, R-Fullerton and Darrell Issa, R-Vista — have expressed support for continuing legal status for DACA recipients. Most congressional Democrats support giving DACA recipients permanent residency as well as a path to citizenship.
. . .
     Rodriguez, who’s permit expires in January 2019, was born in the small town of San Andres Ixtlan in Jalisco, Mexico. Shortly after she was born, her father headed to Napa Valley to better provide for his family. He’s worked at the same vineyard for 20 years and is helping her pay college bills, said Rodriguez, whose three siblings are U.S. citizens.
     During her meeting with Walters’ staff, Rodriguez described her harrowing efforts to cross the border with her mother. While completing high school in Napa Valley and researching colleges, she settled on UC Irvine because of the curriculum and because of the reputation of its immigrant help center.
     “It was just the energy — the vibe — UCI gave off,” she said. She selected Irvine Valley College as part of her path to UCI.
     Walters has issued sympathetic statements about DACA recipients, but Rodriguez told the congresswoman’s staff that wasn’t enough....
     [You should definitely read the rest!]

More on last Thursday's action at Walters' Irvine office:

From the OC Weekly:
Immigrant Rights Protester Arrested at Rep. Mimi Walters' Irvine Office

from Lake Forest Patch:
Dreamers Activist Arrested In Rep. Walters' OC Office

from MyNewsLA.com:
Korean activist arrested at Irvine congresswoman’s office
Dae Joong Yoon, president of the Korean Resource Center. Photo: Korean Resource Center

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...