Jose Alexandro Garrido
Posted on 11/21/2010 7:40:11 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
HARLINGEN,- University of Texas-Pan American students supporting the DREAM Act plan to go on a hunger strike beginning Monday until U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn declare support for the bill.
“While everybody else will be celebrating Thanksgiving we are going to join in solidarity for those who were not fortunate enough to have been born in the United States; for those who are trapped in a legal limbo right now and cannot enjoy the fullness of Thanksgiving,” said Jose Alexandro Garrido, UTPA Dreamer and member of the Coalition for Educational Opportunity Dream Act Project.
Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio have been in a hunger strike for over a week and more strikes are expected to spread across universities in Texas by students in support of the DREAM Act; a bill that if passed will grant conditional residency to undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as minors, if they attend college or serve in the military.
The decision of UTPA students to go on hunger strike was announced Friday after Garrido and nine other students from UTPA, South Texas College and the University of Texas at Brownsville and Southmost College met in Harlingen to speak with the Rio Grande Valley district directors for Sens. Hutchison and Cornyn.
“The DREAM Act will allow students who are in our situation to go to college or enroll in the military; it will allow them to be able to work and contribute to this wonderful country that has given us so much,” said Garrido. “We came here as minors and we learned the culture, now we are just fighting to be recognized.”
The meetings with the senators’ staff were held privately with no media present. Garrido was one of the two students who met with Ana Maria Garcia, Cornyn’s regional director, and one of the three who met with Julian Alvarez, Hutchison’s regional director.
According to Garrido, Garcia informed him that Cornyn sympathizes with the coalition’s cause and understands the situation many of the dreamers are going through; however, he doesn’t like the current bill because he thinks it will allow certain criminals to benefit from the DREAM Act.
“I believe that is a misconception because the DREAM Act clearly states that you need to have a good moral character in order for you to qualify for the DREAM Act; in other words, you need to have a spotless criminal record,” said Garrido.
“With Hutchison we don’t know what she’s asking for, we don’t know what she really wants.”
The students said they attempted to clarify any misconceptions or concerns the senators have by presenting their regional directors with UTPA Dreamer stories. These consist of the journeys the students made to get to the United States and their current struggles. They expect the stories to be forwarded to the senators. They also laid out three main points why they feel ought to sway the senators if and when the DREAM Act is considered in the upcoming lame duck session of Congress.
The first point is that it would be the appropriate humanitarian action to take when considering that these students were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors, through no fault of their own.
The second point is the economical benefit to the country; the students have been educated in America and posses the knowledge and skills to become great American citizens who will contribute to the tax base.
The third point is common sense; it’s irrational to punish students for being in a situation that is not their fault.
The coalition hopes to hear back from Hutchison and Cornyn and may be returning for two more visits to their Valley offices before the lame duck session ends. The coalition believes the DREAM Act will face a much tougher hurdle when the new Congress starts in the New Year.
Why don’t they take their “dream” back to Mexico and see what they’ll get there? They won’t need to go on a hunger strike because they’ll already be starving their ass off.
If they really wanted to sacrifice they could tell mommy and daddy to stop sending the checks.
Grab the nachos, dip and cheese.
I need something to eat while I’m watching them starve themselves...
You took the words right outta my mouth. We ought to be sealing the border with tanks and troops, and deporting these criminals right now.
Maybe they should sew their mouths shut.
Tell them we’ll send their remains to whatever country will pay for the shipping...
I never got the point of self-imposed hunger strikes. Why would anyone be swayed to change their mind on an issue based on someone else choosing not to eat?
As a Texan, this embarrasses me. Sigh.
Good! Let them starve.
[South Texas:]UTPA students to go on hunger strike in support of DREAM Act
Excellent! More carne guisada and barbacoa for the rest of us. Morons. Since few or none of these mush-headed little puke students probably have real jobs they’re cluless as to the impact of illegal immigration on the real world job market. Not that any one of them would take a job roofing or finishing cement anyway.
Jose Alexandro Garrido
More food for the rest of us.
College students? Hunger strike? ROTFLMAO! Yeah...that'll happen.
Why don't you take up a real challenge? Go back to your beloved Mexico and clean it up...
“They won’t need to go on a hunger strike because they’ll already be starving their ass off.”
Nope. WE are the ones starving because WE are the taxpaying fools who carry these FN leeches.
What Mexicans and other Latinos really need to start dreaming is how to turn the countries of their birth into successful nations, rather than constantly dreaming and scheming to get into and stay in the USA.
But that won’t happen until Americans who want cheap votes or cheap labor, and the politicians who do their work in Washington are defeated consistently at the ballot box.
*shaking head*
What do they think would happen if the scene was reversed such that WE were the ones trying illegally to get into Mexico and claim residency?
Let ‘em starve.
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