Walking for the DREAM
On November 30, 2011, Raymi Gutierrez spoke at the Salt Lake Community College Taylorsville Redwood Campus about her intention to walk across the United States in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.
On March 10, 2012, five individuals, including Gutierrez, will set out from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to raise awareness of and support for the DREAM Act as part of the Campaign for an American DREAM. Those who would qualify under the DREAM act are called DREAMers; those who stand with the DREAMers are Allies.
“I want to keep hope alive in DREAMers and their families,” says Gutierrez, an ally.
Gutierrez says that she has always lived in fear of the authorities but never really understood why. Her parents were undocumented and have been threatened with deportation. Gutierrez was born in the United States.
In 2008, a former brother-in-law turned the family into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The day after Christmas, her father told the family that they were going to have to meet with ICE. They had received deportation letters.
Only 19 years old at the time, Gutierrez says that the family’s best plan for those members who were U.S. Citizens was for her to leave college and get a job to support her younger siblings if the parents and older siblings were deported.
The whole family reported to ICE and was separated by citizenship. Thanks to a family lawyer, some members were given permanent residency. Two of her siblings are still in limbo and “without the DREAM Act, there is no path for them to citizenship.”
“I am no longer fighting for two but for two million brothers and sisters,” says Gutierrez.
The walk is scheduled to take eight months ending in Washington, D.C. around election time. As the group walks across the U.S., they will participate in town hall meetings and work to raise awareness of the issue.
This article was originally published at examiner.com.
On March 10, 2012, five individuals, including Gutierrez, will set out from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to raise awareness of and support for the DREAM Act as part of the Campaign for an American DREAM. Those who would qualify under the DREAM act are called DREAMers; those who stand with the DREAMers are Allies.
“I want to keep hope alive in DREAMers and their families,” says Gutierrez, an ally.
Gutierrez says that she has always lived in fear of the authorities but never really understood why. Her parents were undocumented and have been threatened with deportation. Gutierrez was born in the United States.
In 2008, a former brother-in-law turned the family into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The day after Christmas, her father told the family that they were going to have to meet with ICE. They had received deportation letters.
Only 19 years old at the time, Gutierrez says that the family’s best plan for those members who were U.S. Citizens was for her to leave college and get a job to support her younger siblings if the parents and older siblings were deported.
The whole family reported to ICE and was separated by citizenship. Thanks to a family lawyer, some members were given permanent residency. Two of her siblings are still in limbo and “without the DREAM Act, there is no path for them to citizenship.”
“I am no longer fighting for two but for two million brothers and sisters,” says Gutierrez.
The walk is scheduled to take eight months ending in Washington, D.C. around election time. As the group walks across the U.S., they will participate in town hall meetings and work to raise awareness of the issue.
This article was originally published at examiner.com.