7 DREAMers Arrested for Defending Clean Dream Act and Are On Hunger Strike
On Friday, seven DREAMers and one ally were arrested in Washington D
Photo: Unsplash/@robertwalsh0
On Friday, seven DREAMers and one ally were arrested in Washington D.C. and are now in jail on a hunger strike. The activists — defending the Clean Dream Act, were outside Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Carlos Curbelo’s offices, but were arrested for being there after regular business hours. The lawmakers weren’t there during the protest, but now the activist will remain on a hunger strike until Democrats make an inclusion of the Clean Dream Act in the budget. The deadline for the budget is Dec. 22. If a budget isn’t passed, there will be a government shutdown.
If you're reading this, I have been arrested in Washington, D.C. and will refuse to leave jail until @SenSchumer and @RepCurbelo publicly confirm that they have whipped the votes to block any spending bill that does not include a Clean Dream Act. #NoDreamNoDeal
— Belén Sisa (@thebelensisa) December 16, 2017
According to the National Immigration Law Center, “The Clean Dream Act is a permanent, bipartisan and bicameral legislative solution for over 2.1 million immigrant youth and young adults who came to the U.S. as children but have no pathway to citizenship.1 This includes the 800,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACDA) recipients who are currently left in uncertainty and limbo after the termination of the DACA program on September 5, 2017.”
As of now the budget doesn’t include any kind of immigration reform, but does include funding for the border wall. The Clean Dream Act is completely against funding for that.
“The infamous border wall is costly and unnecessary. Estimates to continue building it currently run between $15 to $25 billion, 3 and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a report which concludes that our southern border is the most ‘secure’ since at least ‘2000, and likely since the early 1970s.’ Any increase in border security means an increase in surveillance, invasion of privacy, and racial profiling by Border Patrol officers who already have a long history of abuse towards communities of color”
These activists known now as the #Dream7 say they will remain on a hunger strike until Democrats include the Dream Act.
Here’s more of their stance on this issue:
