Upon first hearing the topic for the week’s Rose Café, I was extremely excited as immigration policy has always been a strong interest of mind. With this year being an election year and candidates vying for the nomination, immigration policy has been a popular subject of debate. Esmerelda first spoke to us about the aspects of the DREAM act, an act aimed to repair the broken immigration system. The main part of the act was that it would grant amnesty to children who had been brought into the country illegally by their parents. This aimed to solve the issue that children who had grown up their whole lives here were unable to attend college or attain a job due to their parents’ decision. I’ve heard about this act many times and have done my own research as well, but an interesting aspect that Esmerelda brought up was the criminalization of the parents in this description. Many people in the US has harsh views regarding illegal immigration; due to this, the framers of this policy constructed its advertisement this way. How could you say no to innocent children who have to suffer because of their parents’ mistakes? While this approach was effective in that it eventually became enacted through President Obama’s executive order DACA, the stigma remains the same for illegal immigrants of any age in the country. As opposed to this condemning reaction many people have towards immigration, there should be a shifted focus to a pathway to citizenship.

In my senior year of high school, the senate introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. As a law major in my technical high school, every senior was required to pick a piece of legislation to center their senior thesis around. I chose this act and was given the opportunity to travel to Washington DC and interview lobbyists and senator staff members to gain more insight. What I learned through this experience is that illegal immigrants has developed a stereotype of immigrants leeching off the country’s resources and providing little in return. This stereotype does not include the people who are upstanding members of society, who pay taxes, and who have been given an opportunity to thrive because of their residency in the US. This act outline a comprehensive and extensive pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which involved the payment of any unpaid taxes and no criminal history. America boasts this image of being the land of opportunity and freedom. However, we deny entrance to many refugees and only provide and handful of visas to hopefuls every year. In a nutshell, our immigration system is broken and there has been little traction to heal it, which continues an overall intolerance in our society to immigrants as a whole.

On March 16, Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English, talked about the infamous DREAM Act during the Rose Scholars Café. Basically, this document allows children who live in the United States but are undocumented to have a chance to receive an education by granting them temporary residency in the country. It is not an official law, and there are various specific requirements as to what it means to be an undocumented citizen. Ideally, after a student completes their education, the hope is that they will receive permanent residency in the United States, which means the world to so many young adults who live with fear of getting deported.

When I first heard of this policy, it seemed like such a wonderful movement that our nation was taking in acknowledging the hard work of many of its citizens. So many families has left their countries of birth in search of a better life in the United States, away from persecution, corruption, and terrorism. Ultimately, the hope that finding a better life with more opportunities for their children lies somewhere else in the world is what drives them to do whatever possible to make it to this country. “America is the land of opportunities,” and although many critics have recently begun arguing against this statement, I believe that it holds much truth to this day.

My parents were illegal immigrants and became citizens between the years 1995-2000. It goes without saying that their main motivation to leave Peru was the hope of a better life that awaited them. The DREAM Act provides so much hope for children that were brought here by their families and want to achieve more then what they could have in their nome country. Especially in Latin American countries, of which many I can speak from personal experience, receiving an education is so difficult that unless you have government ties or are involved in the oil trade, there is not much hope in becoming anything more then a lower middle class worker. Yes, I believe every  job has its value, but every person wants what is best for their family, and sadly Latin American countries do not offer any other choice but to remain in the status you are born into.

For this reason, I believe that the DREAM Act should be revised and passed in this country. If we believe in universal equal opportunities, then movements such as these are what our country needs to keep moving forward. These families know better than anyone else what it takes to “make it” in this country, and to reward their kids with the security of knowing that they can truly call this place their home and achieve whatever they desire through a proper education is a wonderful gift to provide them with.

I attended the talk about the Dream Act and Immigrants into the United States. One of the most striking things I saw in her speech was this road sign.

This sign is posted near borders to indicate that people may be rushing across the street or border. This is not the first time I’ve seen the sign, however. I have travelled many times to California on vacation and seeing this sign is a common occurrence there. I remember the first time I saw the sign, and its an understatement to say that I was shocked.

I couldn’t believe there were posted signs depicting a family like this. On the run, ragged, in danger. It reminded me of the deer crossing signs and that disgusted me more. To me, it almost seemed like they were removing the humanity from the humans on the sign and turned them into driving cautions, like animals. Humans in search for a better life are not similar to curves in the road or construction. They are people, and thats what Esmerelda was discussing in her talk. The Dream Act is an opportunity for more immigrants to gain citizenship, and not just the ones like on this sign parody.

This only shows graduates, which is what the Dream Act has come to symbolize. Not only graduates deserve to become citizens, and some immigrants are shunning the act all together. I think thats a shame, but that immigration is a very touchy subject and one that doesn’t seem to please anyone.

Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera’s presentation opened my eyes to the challenges that undocumented youth face in our country. The DREAM Act (short for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) was a bill in Congress that would have granted legal status to certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and went to school here. Although several versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress since 2001, it has unfortunately never passed. The term DREAMer originally took its name from the bill in Congress, but it has a positive double meaning about the undocumented youth who have big hopes and dreams for a better future.

DREAMers came the US at a young age, typically don’t have a clear consciousness about passing the border illegally, and as minors they did not do so based on their own free will. As undocumented immigrants, they face immense and persistent challenges in avoiding deportation, applying for scholarships to continue their education, and later on applying for jobs. The goal of the proposed DREAM Act has been to provide these youth with a path (albeit arduous) to become educated and legal citizens who can further contribute to our society.
As with any issue concerning immigration, such reforms are fought hard by opponents who argue against any perceived rewards for illegal behavior. And in this big debate, it is easy to forget that DREAMers are hardworking people who dream of a better future and are continuously striving and struggling for it. And even criminalizing their parents for having illegally cross the border may miss the fact that they were the ones who were aiming for a better future for their children. All of this is further evidence for me that we should deeply question our current immigration policies. Even though the issues are clearly quite complex and politically divisive, it behooves us to craft better policies that allows those who strive for the American dream to achieve it with more dignity and less strife.

Before this talk, I had not heard much about the Dreamers or Dream Act. While listening to Esmeralda give her talk, it was clear what kind of conflict this situation would bring up. The Dreamers are a generation that came into America illegally as children and were at a disadvantage later on in life because of their status. While people have tried to change things to make it better for them, it has still been difficult for these children to have improved lives.
The part I found more interesting though, was the fact that the children did not like the term Dreamers. Originally, it sounds as though it would be a good name to go by. A dreamer is hoping for the best they can get out of life. But, the connotation that goes with it is not always this positive. Instead, the generation sees it as putting the blame on their parents and the fact that they caused them to have these issues when they are growing up. Most children are too young to remember or even understand what is going on when they come over. Therefore, they do not realize until much later on in life that they are not citizens and do not have the same opportunities as other citizens in this country. Through Esmeralda’s talk, I learned a lot about what exactly the Dream Act and Dreamers were and how they felt about their situation.

GRF Esmeralda presented a compelling history of the illegal immigration policy in the United States, and explained how images and labels act as vehicles for promoting different political platforms, sometimes at the expense of demoting others. Imagery has the power to evoke and convince and forge the empathetic Other within the viewer, therefore by default is propaganda: simplistic and catering to a specific agenda. I am interested in learning and paralleling the struggle of immigrants from South and Central America and Mexico to immigrants from across the ocean. Why doesn’t the Dream Act extend to other illegal immigrants? I am also not sure whether borrowed frameworks from the Civil Rights movement legitimizes the Dream Act movement as one to adopt itself as the Civil Rights (it was also hinted but not clarified as to which civil rights movement—African American, Gay, Women’s?); it is a civil rights contention, but jarringly different from the African American Civil Rights. I caution against a bridging like this because that would be like paralleling the Syrian refugees with the Holocaust, and by doing that the hardships of one oppressed group are collapsed and condensed and therefore devalued by becoming the political platform for another group.

Last Wednesday, I attended the talk by Esmeralda on the experience of undocumented immigrants in America. She started by talking about the Dream Act, which allowed undocumented students to pursue an education. The reasoning for the act being that it was not the fault of the children who were brought to America at a young age by their parents and that they did not come by their own will. The act has been criticized for demonizing the parents of those students as well as those who could not get a GED or finish high school but instead entered the labor force. One has to consider the conditions that exist in many Latin American countries that would force someone to immigrate and the role that the U.S. has in creating those conditions. One would also have to consider how much of the labor force is made up of undocumented immigrants who are treated poorly and taken advantage of.

Esmeralda drew comparisons between the immigrant movement and the Civil Rights movement and argued that all minorities have experienced the status of undocumentation to some degree especially through the restriction of citizenship rights. Esmeralda talked about the black man who mailed himself in a box to the North in order to escape racism in the South and how that feeling of being trapped in a box is used frequently in the rhetoric of the undocumented students she spoke with. However, as the daughter of African immigrants, I feel that this is not something I identify with because that legacy is not a part of my history and the discrimination that I may experience could not compare to the hardship undocumented immigrants experience daily in this country.

Last Wednesday’s Rose Cafe featuring GRF Esmerelda brought light to the current issues regarding what we call DREAMers, or rather, the repercussions of the term encapsulating them. Because the DREAM act emphasized that educated undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US at a young age could not remember their immigration at such a young age, they were innocent of this act many American citizens view as criminal. However, this criminalized their parents, who were without a doubt cognizant of their immigration circumstances. This wrongful criminalization simply redirected blame towards other undocumented, uneducated immigrants rather than producing a panacea for the overall issue regarding how illegal immigrants are viewed, treated, and given legal rights.

One thing that intrigued me during the talk was how Esmerelda paralleled this racial struggle to the African American Civil Rights movement. She brought up the tale of Henry “Box” Brown, who in the 19th century had physically mailed himself from the pro-slavery South to the abolitionist North. I found this comparison remarkable because it was a parallel both systematically and symbolically. What Henry did in the 19th century was illegal, yet he was rebelling against an unjust system and trying to achieve a better life as a free man. This may be likened to the immigrants who escape to America illegally, who may be running from opressive circumstances and are trying to find a better life. However, symbolically, when these immigrants arrive in the States, they find themselves just as boxed in as Henry “Box” Brown was when he arrived in his crate. They are faced with paperwork and more paperwork, with a complicated legal system where they must fit themselves into a box where they mark their citizenship status, their race, among others, and they must reduce their entire life into a series of check marks which can never define who they really are.

At last week’s Rose Cafe, GRF Esmeralda talked about the DREAM Act, which helps students who have spent their entire lives in the United States pursue higher education and gain legal residency. I had never heard of the DREAM Act before this talk, so all of it was new to me.

I was surprised to find out that many people actually criticize the DREAM Act for placing blame on the parents and suggesting that only those who are getting an education are “worthy” to stay in the United States. Specifically, the language used in the legislation criminalized the undocumented parents. However, these parents are the ones who are likely hoping for a better future for their kids – so then why should the parents be blamed for the situation?

We also looked at posters/signs about the DREAM Act and talked a little bit about the power of these visual aids. It was clear that the DREAM Act only focuses on undocumented students pursuing higher education; after all, the figures in the posters were depicted wearing caps and gowns. Overall, I felt like the posters purposefully put forth a very positive connotation and implied that DREAMers are simply hardworking students who just want to stay in the United States to get a degree.

At last week’s Becker-Rose café, Rose House GRF Esmeralda gave a talk concerning individuals who lacked a sense of identity as they grew up. These individuals are typically young children who had been brought over illegally over to the United States by their parents and thus lose a lot of the benefits that American citizenship provides. One point that Esmeralda emphasized was the lack of financial support for education. The reason for immigration was usually for a better life, but there is no social mobility for undocumented individuals since education may already be limited. Compared to registered individuals, the undocumented have to pay full tuition for wherever they go, and with the ever-increasing prices of college tuition, it’s clear that many of them would not get the education they desire to prosper for a better life.

I was glad that Esmeralda talked about this issue because I never have gotten exposure to people who are undocumented for their whole life. A lot of the other Rose Scholars posts have referred to Spanish television as a way of letting people know about the troubling circumstances these young people face. But since my parents primarily watch Chinese television, I think it’s eye-opening to see other ongoing issues that I didn’t even know existed. And throughout all my years as a student, I don’t think I’ve been taught about this types of issues or what others can do to assist them. I think this just shows how certain systems neglect social groups, but I hope that in the future, we do see improvements politically to assist their community.

For me, most things concerning issues of immigration and citizenship status are anchored in my memories of New York City.  Having gone to high school in New York, I consider myself to be decently familiar with the different components that make up the city’s population, the undocumented portion being of particular interest.  In some of the different service experiences I had during high school, a lot of the work revolved around helping undocumented persons find suitable means of living, which of course is quite challenging in an expensive city when you don’t have the paperwork to get help form the government.  My experience there shifted my perception of immigration issues from the policy level to the more human level.  Politically, it’s wildly complicated.  But on a different plane, everybody should have a warm place to live at night.  Esmerelda’s talk about the personal experiences of DREAMers reminded me of that.

Last week, Esmerelda discussed the issues facing young undocumented Americans, particularly the debate surrounding the DREAM Act. Of particular note was the blowback expressed by many of those who stood to benefit from the bill’s legislation, DREAMers, who believed that the terms of the law were insufficiently inclusive. For one, the law and the dialogue surrounded it represented the DREAMers as victims of their parents. Proponents of the act at times seemed to liken DREAMers to kidnapped children, hauled across the border to this country by their parents while blissfully unaware of their illegal status. Unsurprisingly, many DREAMers rejected this attitude which antagonized their parents as scapegoats rather than offering them some route to citizenship as well. Furthermore, DREAMers rejected discourse which emphasized how they “deserved” citizenship due to their scholarship and possible future contributions to the United States. Not only does this treat citizenship as something to be stingily granted according the state’s whims, but it also excludes many undocumented Americans who never entered college. If a person is unable to give much, can they really be refused citizenship?

To me, the issues surrounding the DREAM Act seem to replicate whenever a group tires to construct an identity for themselves. Rarely is a group so narrow and limited in its membership that all its members can unite under a single archetypical story. More often, a group is constructed from multiple narratives with similar themes that nonetheless are too distinct from each other to be interchangeable.

I had never really considered what life would be like for someone who wasn’t born in this country but had lived almost their entire lives in the United States.  Last week’s Becker Rose cafe changed that for me.

I had never heard of the Dream Act.  I had no idea was DOCA was and I certainly didn’t understand why any of this was important.  I understand now why so many undocumented youth would have a problem with a bill, that although it might have been well meant, does more harm than good.  It paints a picture that only undocumented youth pursing an education are the only ones “worthy” of being allowed to stay or work in the US.  The bill also puts a negative stigma around the parents of undocumented youth by criminalizing them.  The language used suggests that the youth were brought to the US through no fault of their own and many undocumented youth do not want their parents to be criminalized.

I think the talk really helped open my eyes to other peoples struggles and problems.  I had never heard of this movement before and I don’t know if I would have heard it otherwise had I not gone.

I was surprised to learn at Esmeralda’s talk last week that the DREAM Act and the subsequent term “DREAMer” have had negative connotations and seen resistance. My previous (admittedly fuzzy) understanding of the term DREAMer had been a positive one – I understood DREAMers to be undocumented students eligible to pursue higher education under the terms of the law and I associated this group with advocacy efforts, as I assumed those eligible for the DREAM Act would likely be involved in advocating for its passage. As Esmeralda explained, however, the DREAM Act and the undocumented narrative that it puts forward have not been quite so innocuous. The path that the DREAM Act offers to undocumented people–one in which they must attend college to secure permanent citizenship–is narrow, and leaves people for whom college is not the right option in a lurch. If the path is narrow, so too is the group of people who follow it and the subsequent identity, “DREAMers”, given to them collectively. The rhetoric about blame-placing is also alienating and divisive, as it requires drawing lines between those deemed deserving and undeserving of certain rights.

After hearing Esmeralda speak about this, my understanding of the label “DREAMer” has definitely changed: it’s a more contentious label than I had thought, and in fact I think the debate about the term gets to the heart of some more fundamental debates about immigration: who is “entitled” to or “deserving” of legal status, who is not, who is to blame for the present situation (and must we assign blame?), and ultimately, what are we going to do about it? I think Esmeralda’s examining of this term and other linguistic/literary/visual representations of undocumented people will cast light on these questions and where people stand on them.

Last week’s cafe series event regarded a topic that is very different from those in weeks past. The description of illustrations of undocumented immigrants was very intriguing, as there was a very complex interaction between different images and portrayals of these people. From students to families, images created with different goals in mind were incredibly different in their depictions. This event could have passed as an introductory discussion on advertising, which is scary when the images are depicting real people and affect the welfare of real people. While I do not agree that the experience of being undocumented is a direct parallel to the experiences of African Americans, I do think life for these people is much too difficult. I think understanding the life of undocumented immigrants is essential before anyone can make a decision about legislation that should be in place. It is very interesting that there would be, potentially, an economic downside to legislation that documents these undocumented immigrants; I find it strange, but not surprising, that something as complex as the situation of immigration would have complex layers of political implications.

Last Wednesday I attended GRF Esmeralda’s presentation on the DREAM Act, DACA, and the controversy that surrounds those topics. Being Hispanic, these are some topics that get featured a lot on Spanish news. Though I had some knowledge on the topics based off from what I’ve watched on Spanish news before coming to Cornell and during school breaks , I must say that I found Esmeralda’s presentation very informative.

DREAMers are basically students who were brought to the US illegally by their parents when they were young. They’ve spent their whole life here but they can’t apply for financial aid because of their legal status. Besides education, DREAMERs face other limitations due to their legal status such as: getting a driver’s license or an official ID. I think that the limitations that DREAMers face should be things that citizens should not take for granted. One of the the things that gets stressed a lot in Spanish news is how a lot of Hispanic students don’t make it to college mainly because they can’t get financial aid. Both the DREAM Act and DACA ( Delayed Action for Childhood arrivals) are a step in the right direction to helping out DREAMers. Opposition to these laws basically classifies them as amnesty. I don’t know too much about amnesty but the last time I heard it was in middle school and my understanding back then was that undocumented immigrants who came to the US at a certain point in time were forgiven for their “crime” and granted a legal status.

Overall, I thought that the presentation was great and I really like how it touched upon a controversial topic that I’ve followed on Spanish TV. I do think that the DREAM Act and DACA are a great stepping stone in helping out those who consider the US their home. These undocumented youths have established their life in the US and I think that being denied basic things that only citizens are eligible for is almost as though they are being stripped of something that should also be theirs.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Scholars event with guest speaker Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera. The topic of the discussion was the DACA program and DREAMers. Prior to this event, I never heard of the DACA act or DREAMers. Having grown up in Hawaii, undocumented people are not really an issue as it is probably impossible for them to get to Hawaii undocumented. I never really had thought of the dilemma that would arise from undocumented immigrants bringing in their children to the U.S. I do not think that it is fair for the children to have to suffer for something that their parents did. While the DACA program is definitely helpful for these individuals, I think that more action is required to help those eligible for DACA become full time citizens. If these people do meet the requirements for DACA I think that they would make decent citizens and should have the opportunity to become “documented” citizens of the United States. The United States is the land of opportunity and kids who were brought into the U.S. should not have to pay the price of their parents’ mistakes with their future. Overall it was a very enjoyable event as it is not everyday that you learn about a topic that you have never heard of before nor ever thought existed. I guess this also speaks to how secluded Hawaii is as a state from the rest of the U.S.

What I found most interesting about Esmeralda’s talk last Wednesday was the discussion on how the language used to describe DREAMers– youth who grew up in the US and who identify as American despite being completely undocumented– forms our opinions on the group. Esmeralda first identified some problematic wording: one statement described the youth has having been brought to the U.S. “by no fault of their own.” While this emphasis on guilt does induce some level of sympathy for the youth, it also blames their parents for bringing them to the U.S. This raises the question: can their parents be blamed for trying to create a better life for there children? Most would say no, but the language surrounding the DREAM Act did in fact imply the opposite. Another interesting dichotomy is that between illegal and undocumented: while “illegal” implies a clear wrongdoing, “undocumented” has an ambiguous quality that does not assign blame. The issue here as perhaps as linguistic as it is political; it is always enlightening to consider the very words that make up our debates.

From this week’s Rose Cafe Series, Esmeralda touched on a point that I have actually seen at Cornell. She said that DREAMers generally get associated with a student label, and that they deserve to be in America and take advantages of its opportunities, while others who do not/cannot go to college are considered undeserving, and regardless, the parents get blamed for their kids’ situation.

One of the people who ran for the Student Assembly Minority Rep position had spoken about her story about being undocumented and her journey to getting to Cornell. Her story fostered a discussion in the end about undocumented people in the United States and whether they should get to stay, and I remember some of the responses saying, well if they work hard and attend college (like the candidate running had), they should get to stay. They proceeded to mention that it is not the undocumented kids’ faults if their parents brought them to America and put them in the situation they are in. This discussion was analogous to the points Esmeralda made in which people think that undocumented kids who can make it to college can stay and that the blame should be towards the parents.

It was shocking to me that as Cornell students, who are supposed to be thoughtful and intelligent, our analyses of such delicate situations can still be so shallow. It is a good thing indeed that Esmeralda came to Cornell to study AND advocate because we certainly could use her reasoning and logic to influence our narrow-mindedness.

Esmeralda’s talk on the DREAM act and undocumented youth was really interesting, especially because I knew nothing about the topic before attending last week’s café. I liked that she started out the discussion by giving us a summary of some of the challenges that undocumented youth face, because it was much easier to understand the problems with the DREAM act in the context of these frustrations.

I was particularly interested in why the DREAM act, which at first glance is a great thing for undocumented youth, was received so poorly by many. Esmeralda’s explanation was that the DREAM act only focused on undocumented youth as students and that it implied that their parents were criminals. This demonstrates that even well-intended programs can sometimes backfire or have deeper implications. The images promoting the DREAM act were interesting as well, especially because the posters only showed students, and the yellow filters seemed to make the race of the people in the photos less obvious to the audience (it was unclear whether or not this was intentional).

Last Wednesday, Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English and Graduate Resident Fellow in Flora Rose House, led a discussion on the representation of undocumented youth affected by the DREAM Act. One area of conversation that piqued my interest was the visual representation of these youth in posters and road signs. In the presentation, we were shown a poster and road signs that both demonstrated different characteristics of DREAMers. The poster highlighted education and women by making the main visual focus point a smiling woman dressed in a graduation cap and gown. The poster was most likely aiming to deliver the message that DREAMers value their education and are hard-working and determined to pursue educational opportunities. I think the visuals that the creators picked for this particular poster fit very well with their message and helped communicate it effectively. Of the two road signs shown, the first included a generic looking family (father first, then mother, then daughter) in a fervent running motion towards the left. The second depicted a couple of individuals in a casual walking motion towards the right dressed in graduation caps and gowns. In my opinion, the road sign depicting the family held a negative connotation and the road sign depicting the graduating students held a positive connotation. I think it’s interesting that the running family was drawn to be running in a hurried manner while the students are simply walking. Perhaps this difference has a deeper meaning and warrants further examination. For these reasons, I found this discussion as a whole very informative and look forward to learning more about this interesting topic.

Last week at the Rose Café, I had the pleasure to listen to GRF Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera speak about DREAMers.  DREAMers are undocumented immigrant children who have very little to no opportunities to pursue higher education due to their status.  This can impact their future all together, especially when it applies to employment opportunities.  That is why the DREAM act provides these youths a chance for a better education. This act has not been signed into law yet but civil rights advocates are working hard to make it a reality.  But there is still a lot of people who have mixed feelings about the act.  The act targets and blames the children’s parents for their undocumented status and creates unwanted consequences of criminalizing the parents.  I feel that the DREAM act is a stepping stone to spread awareness of the limited opportunities undocumented immigrants have for education and a better quality of life even though it is creating some negative effects.

Basic benefits that citizenship gives such as social security, official IDs such as a driver’s license and government financial aid are unavailable to them. The current advocacy is building a strong movement to change immigration laws and people’s perceptions of undocumented immigrant children to end their plight.

Immigration has always been a topic that has sparked a lot of controversy both in the United States and abroad, and lately it has become a topic of even more scrutiny. As such, GRF Esmeralda’s talk comes at a very fitting time. Wanting to become informed about this important subject, I attended the talk and came away with certainly a few more insights into better the situation of immigrants. One of the most interesting things that I picked up was just how much the Dream Act was intentionally designed to present undocumented immigrants in a favorable light. From it’s appeal to the idea of the American Dream to highlighting the innocence of undocumented children, the act sets up so many positive images that I can imagine it would have been hard to vote against. Another aspect of the situation of undocumented immigrants that Esmeralda brought up and I found intriguing was its parallels to the situation of blacks during the Civil Rights movement. In addition to having restricted rights due to their illegal status, immigrants are also usually of a different race than the majority in the U.S., and therefore I think there is a lot of merit to the comparison and hopefully some solidarity between the groups can be found because of it. Ultimately, after hearing this talk I believe that although the situation for adult migrants is still debatable, for those that crossed the border as children, America is their only country, and it’s hard to argue they should not be allowed integrate into American society.

This past wednesday, I attended a rose Cafe series for the second time this semester. Although I thought the topic was very interesting – illegal immigration – I did not enjoy the presentation. The presentation seemed too rough, and not the most eloquent or thought out. As a result, it was a bit difficult to enjoy.

However, it was very interesting. A very neat part was the poster that said “My name is Laura, I am undocumented”. It was a poster about college education. Had you not know it was about illegal immigration, you would not have been able to tell. The colors were blurred, she was a smiling person with grad mortar board on, and had pictures of students smiling. It makes it very neat because it shows that people only want to gain a better education and better life. It puts it in perspective when people discuss illegal immigration because a lot of what people want is just a better life. Thats a lot hard to argue against.

The DREAM Act. Another example of America’s constant need to criminalize immigrants. Sure the DREAM Act may have had good intentions. Allowing undocumented youth to remain in the US is a cause that I can support. But the DREAM Act did not only affect undocumented youth. In allowing undocumented youth to remain in the country, the DREAM Act criminalized undocumented parents.

Forgiving one group while criminalizing another is not real progress. It is simply reassigning hatred. America has always fed on xenophobia and racism. Undocumented youth are just one of many victims of this disturbing trend.

For further proof of this, look at Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has run an entire bid for the presidency based entirely on hate-mongering and racism. At his rallies, he boasts about his plan to build a wall. To turn people away. To further isolate our friends and neighbors from one another. And people love him. They say he’s finally an “honest politician.” And in a way he is honest. He’s honest about what the ugliest side of America looks like. He’s honest about his hatred and bigotry

The DREAM Act might try to be a good thing, but its not. As long as a human beings existence is being criminalized, the DREAM Act is coming from a place of hatred too.

GRF Esmeralda led an insightful discussion on the lives of undocumented immigrants in this nation. Due to the fact that presidential campaigning has dominated the vast majority of media coverage in the past several months, the discussion of immigration has been a hot-button issue. Unfortunately, however, discussion of undocumented immigrants on a more human level has been severely lacking. Undocumented immigrants are exploited to a great deal by many corporations and Americans in this nation, and it is not a stretch to say that our economy could not survive without their contributions. Yet, there is still a tremendous amount of ill-will from many Americans towards these immigrants, and government itself has not provided any truly permanent and quality solutions to allow the millions of undocumented immigrants in this nation to come out of the shadows.

One highly well-known policy is The Dream Act, which essentially states that if undocumented children, who are brought into this country by their undocumented parents, follow certain “steps” like obtaining a high school degree and then a college degree, they can be provided permanent residency. Many immigrants, however, view this policy as a “box” that forces individuals to essentially follow one path to legal status. However, this does not describe millions of immigrants who, for example, would simply like to obtain a work permit. Thus, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is perhaps a step in the right direction, as it provides for undocumented immigrants who entered this nation before their 16th birthday a two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. There is a still a great deal of progress needed to be made in order for all undocumented immigrants to live a dignified and secure life.

The most Recent Rose Café was very eye opening and it cleared up several things for me. GRF Esmeralda brought up several facts about the DREAM act and DACA while also helping me to understand the predicament many undocumented youth are currently facing.  The terms DREAMers is now considered divisive, the youth are able to begin the path to a better life but only if they go to college and basically view their parents as criminals. The counter to this is DACA (Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals), a law President Obama helped pass which gives the same perks of the Dream Act but does so without penalizing the parents and allows those who do not wish to attend college the option of staying in the country.

I feel that DACA is a good start to helping undocumented youth make it in this country, whether they go to college or not. Look, undocumented people have it hard enough as it is, you’re treated like crap and people blame you for taking their jobs.  The Dream Act may have been passed with the best intentions but it’s time is over and we are in desperate need of a new law that treats undocumented people fairly, not one that divides them or worse treats them like criminals. Hopefully, in the next few years someone will build on what President Obama started with DACA and pass a law that can put the people, not politics, first and be fair to all.

On Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café with GRF Esmeralda! She spoke about her PhD research on the DREAM act and DACA relating to undocumented youth. An undocumented youth is someone who came into America without inspection or with false paperwork, and often these individuals do not even know they are undocumented for a long time because of the actions of their parents. This hurts their education, especially hurting their chances of achieving higher education. The DREAM act, which stands for Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors, sounds like a positive reform program for undocumented youth. However, it was put under a lot of criticism because it only addresses education. Personally, I feel that this act was a good start towards helping the undocumented youth, as education is one of the most important things in a young person’s life. After looking at images regarding the DREAM act, it is very clear that education is the main and only goal. While this goal of education for everyone is very important, the overall quality of life for these undocumented individuals is far more important and encompasses the big picture.

Esmeralda spoke about her extremely interesting PhD work in the dreamer initiative and undocumented youth. Many of the youth are eager to become educated in the United States and are struggling to get out of the label as undocumented youth. The undocumented youth did not even realize that they were undocumented until they went to seek jobs and waiting for admission to educational institutes. In fact, policies had to blame someone for being the cause of the youth’s immigration and thus place the blame on parents for the immigration. The narrative placed criminalization on the parents when indeed the parents were innocent. Anti-immigrant legislations were being created in the early 2000s. Esmeralda is involved in helping undocumented youth have a voice through her research of literary visualizations. A very interesting image that was shown to us was two road signs. One caution road sign for immigrants was actually kept near an interstate highway in San Diego, which was shocking to me. The sign was depicting a caution for a family running in fear and frantically holding the child. However, the other road sign is more supporting the Dream act where the immigrants are all in cap and gowns showing the immigrants’ mission to educate themselves. Undocumented youth overall are facing discrimination when it comes to filling forms for education and jobs. It is inspiring to see how she does literary research on the word “dreamer” in the message to speak out for undocumented youth in all their benefit to be educated and help the economy of the country. Another interesting image that she delves into to draw a parallel with history and that was an image of the Immigrant rights march in 2006. The image draws similarities between immigrants and the African American experience. Overall, the talk shared an unique perspective on learning about the undocumented youth movement through images and other visualizations.

This week’s discussion was about the Dream Act. This is a movement to help undocumented students be able to access resources to get a better education and jobs. One phrase that is always mentioned when this topic comes up is the term “they were brought here through no fault of their own”. I think this term has a extremely negative connotations because when you hear the current administration saying these words it’s as if they are blaming the parents for everything. The reality is that the parents who are accused of bringing their children into America did so to work hard and provide their children with a brighter future. They sacrificed everything including their homes, family members they had to leave behind, and their homeland to start their lives over so that their kids would have the opportunities that they never had. It is also misleading and unfair that people stereotype immigrants which is in some part due to the media and TV shows. They are viewed as being chased by police or being associated with drugs and crime, however that is not the case. These are regular people that work hard and are trying to improve their everyday life. Is that not what everyone is trying to do in some way? Why should undocumented students, and their families who have grown up in the USA be treated any differently. I think we need to work towards providing everyone with equal access to information and resources.

I believe that the youth is important, however the families that struggle everyday to make ends meet should not be forgotten either. This problem is not just about undocumented students and their families it is a problem which includes racism, feminism, war and human rights. Sometimes I feel that people hear about a cause and think that it does not affect them because they are not the ones experiencing the problem. Everyone is included because we can not begin to discuss and improve one issue without bringing up all of the following issues such as race and feminism. The first step is to listen, hear about what the problem is and become active by educating yourself and then others on the cause. Change can only come about when everyone recognizes the problem and decides to do something about it so that we can improve the lives of all people.

This past Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café where GRF Esmeralda spoke about the DREAM act and DACA for undocumented youth in the United States.  She focused on the use of the term “DREAMers” to describe these youth.  However, with the Obama’s introduction of DACA (Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals), this term has become outdated and the youth do not like to be called “DREAMers” because it is exclusive.

Before hearing Esmeralda talk, I thought the term “DREAMers” was a positive one, since the DREAM act was helping out undocumented youth, however; the undocumented youth movement is trying to get rid of it.  The reason is that it does not encompass all undocumented youth and its focus is solely on education.  It only applies to students who go on to college so it creates a deserving/undeserving divide among the population. In addition, the term reduces an entire person into a student, when they are much more than just that. We looked at a poster about the DREAM act and the focus is clearly on higher education. The undocumented youth movement wants everyone to be included and wants get rid of the focus on education, but rather quality of life.

This week at Rose Cafe, GRF Esmeralda, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English, lead a discussion about the undocumented youth movement called the DREAMers, who are pushing in support of the DREAM Act that would give young immigrants the legal right to stay in the US. The DREAM Act pertains a certain group of young immigrants who have entered the US as children, perhaps brought in as infants by their parents, though no fault of their own. They grew up watching the same TV shows and listening to the same music as we do, with formed identities in the US, Americans at heart. It is sad to think that some undocumented immigrants may not know that they are undocumented until they are rejected from jobs or college, the opportunities to become a contributing member of society.

DREAMers focus on education and opportunity as the main issue, and fights stereotypes surrounding undocumented immigrants. Comparing an sign to a team logo made by the DREAMers, the former enforced negative stereotypes of immigrants as illegals running away from law enforcement, with parents dragging along their children, whereas the latter depicts young adults with high school diplomas, aspiring and moving towards their futures. This illustrates some of the challenges undocumented immigrants face every day: not only the limited opportunities available but also the negative stereotypes and associations. I thought it was very illuminating in how the experiences of undocumented immigrants brings into light broader issues involving seemingly disparate groups of people- African Americans, Latinos, etc- and their shared experiences as minorities in the US. Although the common narrative is that we now live in a colorblind society, sadly, we are still far from racial and gender equality. Here, we have an opportunity to examine more closely the challenges facing disadvantaged groups in the United States, and redefine what American values stand for.

This past Wednesday, GRF Esmeralda discussed DREAMers and how the DREAM act could potentially help these people better their lives. The issue discussed is very significant as it is related to the larger debate about the extent to which immigration should be allowed. DREAM stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. The DREAM act debate, while complicated, mainly breaks down into two main positions. One position is that the act should be passed so that undocumented immigrants can become permanent citizens after passing certain qualifications. The other position is that this act may encourage illegal and unauthorized immigration. Currently, the act is not in place and many of the DREAMers are having difficulty getting a job or receiving education because they are undocumented (which some of these people did not even realize they were). I believe that the DREAM act should be passed because as long as the undocumented workers are contributing to society (i.e. getting an education and pursuing a career) they should be able to become citizens of the United States.

This week at the Rose Cafe, our guest was GRF Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera.  She was speaking to us about DREAMers, undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as young children.  The number of children who are brought to the US in early childhood is shocking, especially when you realize how much difficulty these children will have later in life when it comes to applying for college and jobs.  And it is even more shocking when you realize that many of these children don’t realize they are undocumented until one of these issues comes up.  A child may go through much of their life fine, and then be rejected for a job because they are not documented.

Esmeralda spoke to us about the DREAM act, which provides those undocumented youths the opportunity to become US citizens and live a productive life in the United States like they feel they should be able to.  Unfortunately the DREAM act has not been signed into law, meaning there are still many people who do not have all the rights they should have.  One of the things that struck me about the DREAM act was the criminalizing of the parents of these DREAMers.  The thought process is that the parents brought the children to the US before they could decide for themselves, therefore keeping them from future opportunities because they end up being undocumented.  This criminalizing of the parents turns some people off of the DREAM act, despite its many benefits.

I thought this talk was very interesting.  I was able to tie in some things I had learn from my Multicultural Education class that I took last spring.  In that class, we discussed a lot about students who were undocumented and the challenges they face.  Hearing about it from the DREAMers perspective was very enlightening.

GRF Esmeralda shared the topics of her research at this week’s Rose Cafe. Her work focuses on studying a demographic consisting of undocumented immigrants who are given a narrow label and chance for success, or are otherwise not permitted the basic rights of citizenship, such as obtaining a driver’s license. It’s incredible to think that kids who grew up in the U.S. and have all the same ties and experiences, but are technically undocumented, are treated differently from their peers when they apply to go to college. Many kids don’t even know that they are undocumented until something like this comes up. Drawing from my own experience, when I heard that a friend in high school couldn’t apply to an out-of-state university solely because she was undocumented, despite her intelligence and possible desire to go to a better college, I was shocked at how unfair the system could be.

It was interesting to compare the imagery of immigrants in the U.S. and how perceptions change dramatically with subtle changes in similar depictions. One pair of images that we spent a lot of time discussing was a road sign with a trio of immigrants. One image showed a group that looked hurried, fearful, and (in the case of the child) reluctant. The other, a group of recent graduates, deliberating marching in a forward direction with their heads held high. The reactions to these separate images are very distinct and demonstrate how the feeling towards immigrants in this country is largely governed by their depiction, on road signs, in the media, or elsewhere. The inequality becomes evident when considered in this context and this talk was a good reminder that, although progress is slowly being made, equality is still something we’re striving towards as a country.

Yesterday, in the Rose Cafe, GRF Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera talked on the subject of undocumented youth in the United States, particularly in Southern California. Being from Atlanta, on the complete opposite side of the US, I’d never heard about something called the Dream Act or even seen the road sign that’s apparently quite common in SoCal that “cautions” drivers about families crossing the border. I was, and still am, aware that the topic of illegal residents is a very hot, very controversial one in our nation today, but I had no idea that there are currently up to 6 million undocumented individuals living in the U.S. And I had no idea that their experience is what it is. Esmerelda spoke on how certain policies, such as the Dream Act and DACA (or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) have been formed to help these undocumented youth, but that over time, such policies have actually come to harm some of these individuals. By that, she meant that even certain propaganda–such as posters depicting a youth in a cap and gown–don’t encompass every undocumented child or adolescent in the country. There are other individuals who may not want to go to school, or who don’t want to, or who are content with working in the labor force; what about them? Where’s the legislative backing for those individuals? If they don’t qualify for the Dream Act, what happens to them? Why is this group of people not being depicted on posters or being supported by President Obama?

I mean, granted, the president has done a lot for this demographic (maybe not all that he could’ve, but nonetheless, he’s done made strides), and that’s something that can’t be said for everybody, and specifically can’t be said for every candidate currently running for president. I hate to get political, but listening to this talk prompted me to think about the men and woman running for the title of the President of the United States and what exactly he or she plans to do to help the fight for rights of Latinos–and all minorities, for that matter. At one point, Esmerelda said that many of these undocumented youth have paralleled their experiences to the African-American struggle/experience, and the Civil Rights Movement. An example of such a comparison was La Gran Marcha, which took place in May of 2006 in protest of a bill that was in the making, which would have effectively made being an illegal resident a felony and would’ve made offering assistance to an undocumented individual a crime. Because of the solidarity of Latinos that was shown during this event, the bill was struck down; “If people can come together to do something so great,” Esmerelda concluded, “what more can be done to bring down discrimination and establish actual human rights for Latinos and African-Americans in the United States?” And how much easier would this be if our next president won’t just fight for the rights of privileged white males (or females), but also for the rights of EVERYONE–male, female, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Native-American, queer, straight, young, old, rich, and poor. A girl can dream right?

This evening I had the chance to hear GRF Esmeralda talk to us about the DREAM Act, which provides undocumented youth the opportunity to become educated and productive members of American society. I was moved by this talk because I am an immigrant myself and have experienced my fair share of challenges; these undocumented students not only have a wide array of challenges that arise from immigration, but also those that stem from being illegal. Esmeralda elaborated on the notion that these children are not responsible for their parents’ actions, and the DREAM Act serves as an amnesty to them.

I am glad that the DREAM Act affords undocumented youth the chance to become U.S. citizens and therefore realize their full potential. Without citizenship, these students can not only be eligible for federal employment and benefits, but also receive financial aid for college and benefit from tax laws. In addition to these advantages, their sense of security will perpetuate a more positive environment in America. Esmeralda showed us a quote by an immigrant named Tam Tran, who said, “I hate filling out forms, especially ones that limit me to checking off boxes even I don’t identify with.”  The DREAM Act serves to curtail these inconveniences that prevent undocumented youth from achieving success.

I also liked the image with the caption “Pass the DREAM Act” that Esmeralda showed us. Its emphasis on importance of education among these youth, not the negativity about immigration, deeply resonated with me. I hope that the DREAM Act will fuel further reforms in regards to helping undocumented youth. It inspires loyalty and a strong work ethic to our country, which are qualities that will bolster the American economy.

Overall, I learned a lot from Esmeralda. I hope to talk to her more about her opinions about future reforms when I see her in Rose House!

During this week’s Cafe Series, PhD student and GRF Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera came to speak to us about her work on studying undocumented immigrants, and particularly the youth and children of those immigrants. First, Esmeralda spoke about the difficult conditions of living as an undocumented youth, and compared it to the feeling of being stuck. Even though those undocumented youth may be able to move on with their lives, get an education and better opportunities, they will have that undocumented condition that follows them whenever they try to do something with a social security number, such as get a driver’s license or apply for financial aid. These are privileges that many US-born citizens don’t really acknowledge as luxuries.

However, what was the most interesting part of the talk for me was hearing about how Esmeralda frame recent events with undocumented youths as a civil rights movement. She spoke about the immigrants right march, La Gran Marcha in the mid 2000’s when nearly 1.5 million people came together to mobilize a coalition against anti-immigrant legislation. In addition, the DREAM Act helped to reframe the notion of immigrants as criminals and build a narrative for undocumented youth in which their existence is ‘legalized’.Unfortunately the DREAM act polarizes and places blame on the parents of the undocumented youth. But hopefully these movements are just stepping stones to help to spread awareness that people don’t just come to America for any reason and perpetuate the stigma of crime, but due to dire circumstances out of their hands in their original country that forced them to leave. I found Esmeralda’s work to be empowering and informative, and I do hope that eventually undocumented youth are able to take back and reconstruct their own narrative.

Tonight at the Rose café, GRF Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera gave a very interesting talk on the DREAM act and its effect on undocumented youth. While I had heard about the political controversy surrounding the DREAM act, I was not aware that this act is also controversial among undocumented immigrants themselves.

Although the DREAM act has never been passed into law, Esmeralda explained that it has been influential in shaping societal depictions of undocumented youth. Specifically, she described how many of these youth feel that the “DREAMer narrative” limits their acceptable roles in societies to being students, and thus divides them into “deserving” and “undeserving” categories. Many also feel that the language of this narrative merely transfers the blame for their undocumented status by criminalizing the actions of their parents.

Esmeralda then went on to describe how many undocumented youth have reacted in recent years to what they feel is an inaccurate portrayal of themselves by initiating their own advocacy and protest movement. She noted that there are many parallels between this movement and the civil rights movement, for instance both have employed the tactics of civil disobedience and large protest marches to raise awareness. I found this comparison very interesting as it connects the modern struggles of undocumented youth into a broader history of individuals who have fought for the right to define their own identities.

This evening I listened to Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera speak about undocumented experiences and how they are presented in the political landscape. The categorization of an undocumented person criminalizes them for existing in a nation-state that is not “theirs.” The Dream Act shifted this criminalization to the parents of undocumented people because, as the narrative goes, the child did not have a choice so they were not at fault. This perspective is problematic because it makes an assumption that there are no extreme or special circumstances that can justify the illegal act of crossing a border.

The Marxist view of criminality asserts that criminal acts arise from necessity borne out of being in a disadvantaged position in society and that the motives of selfishness come from the very behaviors that capitalism reinforces at a broader level. The first prong in this Marxist view effectively captures the reasons why many people come to the United States knowing that this is an illegal act.

For example, in various Latin-American countries, it is well-known among scholars that US intervention is the reason for sustained instability. Though there are others some examples include Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador. This sustained instability encompasses political, economic, and social factors that threatens lives. This atmosphere has been extreme enough to lead to mass genocide by US-backed leaders. In effect, the US has profited on the exploitation of Latin-American countries and then subsequently denied immigrants entry for refuge. With deportation on the rise, people are being sent back to their countries and being viciously murdered within days.

The evisceration of a country by another seems to me to be the “necessity” from the Marxist interpretation of criminality. People subject to US interventionist policies have no other choice but to escape for themselves and for their families. For this reason, the narrative that certain undocumented people “deserve” to be in the United States more than another is problematic. How can someone assign value to one life over another?

Capitalism combined with imperialistic motives caused the encroachment of the United States into countries to exploit their labor, their capital, and their citizens and led to many deaths, egregious labor violations, governmental corruption, and so on. How can someone value a border more than they value the right to human life?

On the construction of borders, who enforces them? why are they enforced? With increasing globalization it would be advantageous to start deconstructing these borders and question the motives behind restrictive immigrant policy and examining the histories behind them. This might be difficult to unpack when undocumented people continue to be marginalized by society and unscrupulous employers exploit undocumented immigrants here in the United States in the search for ultimate profit maximization.

Tonight I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Esmerelda Arrizon-Palomera on undocumented youths in America and the implications of the DREAM act. She shared several images that exemplify the different challenges and biases that undocumented youths face. One was a pair of crossing signs – one that shows two parents appearing to run away from something with a child in tow, and another that shows three educated people in graduation garb, appearing to walk towards something. The fact that both images show the people with the word “Caution” speaks to the irrational fear of immigrants that many people in the United States demonstrate. While the first image perpetuates negative stereotypes of immigrants, the second way shows them as model students. Arrizon-Palomera talked about how regardless of how much education an undocumented person receives, their condition as undocumented will always be a precarious one. Arrizon-Palomera compared the feeling of being undocumented to feeling contained or stuck. This made me realize how much a lot of us take our citizenship for granted – things like being able to get a drivers license, have a Social Security number, and qualify for financial aid are all luxuries that undocumented students don’t have. College is already stressful enough as is – I can’t even imagine how difficult and stressful it must be to have to deal with all of those issues as well.

Arrizon-Palomera also talked about how a lot of undocumented people have no memory of crossing, since it happened when they were so young. Therefore, they often don’t even realize they are undocumented until they go to apply for driver’s licenses. Additionally, she talked about the DREAM act helps protect students, but it criminalizes their parents, thus separating students from their parents – so that protection comes at a cost. Again, this made me realize how lucky citizens are and how much we take for granted.

At the end of her talk on the portrayal and imagery of the DREAM act, GRF Esmerelda thoughtfully left time for attendees to ask questions. I chose to ask why she decided to move from her advocacy role in Los Angeles to studying the subject from the academic angle at Cornell. Her insightful response was that she views the research she does at Cornell as her own form of advocacy. Instead of acting in the stereotypical role of speaking into a megaphone at rallies, she utilizes her personal talents regarding storytelling and examines the written stories of undocumented youth in America. This, she pointed out, is also a valuable act of advocacy because these stories and the individual voices behind them embody the movement and can be used to represent it.

The DREAM act is one of many examples of movements where personal narratives play an essential role in the advocacy agenda. Individuals’ testimony before the government influences the deliberation on legislation. And news outlets and popular media frequently chose a few individuals’ narratives to symbolize an entire movement. Emotional personal stories can influence people’s viewpoints more than facts and figures.

In her response to my question, Esmerelda also imparted the universal theme that everyone can contribute to the causes they care about. She stressed that each person has unique skills and talents and can learn to apply them for greater purposes.

This evening in the Rose Café, Esmeralda Arrizon-Palomera, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English, talked about the Undocumented Youth Movement and the cultural production that has emerged out of it.

One aspect of the conversation that stood out to me was when the rejection of the term DREAMer was discussed. This term is a very narrow narrative about who the undocumented immigrants are and what the experience is like.

I strongly related this to “The danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

We are impressionable and vulnerable in the face of a story. Showing a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, creates a single story and that is what they become.

It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power. Like our economic and political worlds, stories too are defined by a phrase “to be greater than another.” Who tells these stories, when are they told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on power. Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.

The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.

Stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.

Today, our very own GRF Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera spoke about the DREAM act and the experience of DREAMers in the United States. As President Obama has previously said, undocumented youth (DREAMers) are American in every way except for on paper. This means that these youth cannot get their driver’s license, travel, apply for a job, or go to college. The latter has become the focus of legislation and campaigns to change the negative stigma associated with undocumented youth and permit them the right to attend college.

Over the course of this Rose Cafe, we examined numerous images related to DREAMers. One such picture campaign urged the passing of the Dream Act with the message of education instead of deportation and an image of a DREAMer girl in a cap and gown. The coloring of the picture removed the focus from race and instead zoomed in on the issue of granting youth the right to get an education. In a pair of “immigrant crossing” signs, education was also a major focal point. In one caution sign, immigrants were depicted in a way that reinforced and called upon all the negative stereotypes associated with undocumented children. In the other caution sign, the youth were all grown up and dressed, once again, in caps and gowns, almost as if they are running towards graduation and other great big goals.

The images associated with and the experiences of undocumented youth are quite multifaceted. Therefore, I agree with Esmeralda’s assessment that the “DREAMer” term itself is very narrow and makes it seem that the only problem is education, when in fact being undocumented is restrictive in many other ways as well. Moreover, while it is seems like a positive point that undocumented youth have been decriminalized, it is unfortunate that this is at the expense of criminalizing their parents. The issue of undocumented youth in the United State is one that is ongoing, and clearly has much more room to develop.

While it was hard to hear the speaker, what I gathered from Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera’s talk on undocumented youth was a rather powerful and important conversation that needs to be had.  Her talk was about the conflict many undocumented youth have, a topic that is important considering how large an issue immigration has been lately.  While many people think of the negatives of immigration this talk phrased this conversation differently.  It is hard to imagine deporting young people who are working hard to gain an education and improve themselves in the only country they have ever known.  The talk discussed the many different programs to help undocumented student youth.  It was interesting to hear how the language changed over time and the many challenges undocumented youth faced within the system built to help them.  For example, the language seemed to criminalize the parents and blame them for the illegal immigration.

The system also seemed to deem who was deserving of belonging to that group.  By doing this they decriminalized only those deserving while still criminalizing all other immigrants.  There is a definite divide in how undocumented immigrants are visualized and identified.  I think it is impressive that the undocumented youth, despite all the other problems they face, were able to collectively work toward changing people’s perspectives and the many laws that affect them, their families, and how they are perceived.