EMU alumna in national spotlight on immigration issue
Isabel Castillo, a 2007 Eastern Mennonite University graduate, has become a nationally recognized spokesperson for the plight of undocumented young people in the United States.
Castillo was featured in a Feb. 20, 2011, New York Times article, “Dream Act Advocate Turns Failure into Hope.” This publicity led Jesuit-run University of San Francisco to invite her to be its commencement speaker this spring and to offer her an honorary doctorate.
On Feb. 24, 2011, Castillo was interviewed for Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world.
Castillo first came to public attention on July 20, 2010, when she was one of 20 undocumented young people arrested in Washington, D.C., for staging non-violent, sit-down actions at the Hart Senate Office Building to appeal for passage of the DREAM Act. (The Act was derailed when it was five votes short of advancing in the Senate.)
Castillo was brought by her parents as a six-year-old to the United States. She graduated from Turner Ashby High School near Harrisonburg, Va., with a 4.0 GPA. She graduated magna cum laude from EMU, with a major in social work.
Congressional passage of the DREAM Act – the acronym stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors – would give undocumented immigrants ages 12-30 a path to legal residency. They would be able to apply for citizenship if they serve in the military or get a college education. It would take at least 10 years and perhaps as much as a 15-20 years for a person to satisfy the requirements.
On Aug. 26, 2010, Castillo spoke eloquently at a town hall meeting held by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican pushing for tougher deportation policies. In January 2011, she went to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and testified before a House of Delegates subcommittee that was considering a proposal to bar undocumented students from state-supported colleges.
In October 2010, Bob Edwards of National Public Radio interviewed Castillo for a segment of his national show.
Castillo’s biggest risk is being deported and ending up alone in an unfamiliar setting in Mexico, away from her home, her family and her friends. “At first, I’d only allow the media to shoot my face turned
away and only my first name,” she told the New York Times reporter. “And then it just progressed. I said, O.K., use my face and you can say I went to a local university. Then it was, I graduated from Eastern Mennonite University and I’m Isabel Castillo.”
Castillo paid her way through EMU by working 30 hours a week at unsalaried casual jobs, such as babysitting and waitressing, and continues to survive by working in this manner, while accepting multiple (usually unpaid) invitations to speak on the DREAM Act.
A reporter for the Capital News Service in Richmond quoted Isabel as saying: “I started doing activism because the issue affected me, but now I do it for the thousands of people like me who are scared to stand up. I have a sense of relief. I’m not ashamed or scared. I’m not a criminal. I’m no longer going to hide in the shadows.”
Story by Bonnie Price Lofton
House GOP takes up immigration
House Republican leaders are taking up the hot-button issue of illegal immigration at the outset of a Virginia General Assembly session taking place against the backdrop of fall elections.
“House Republicans believe that playing by the rules and abiding by the law is important. Countless immigrants to this great nation have come here to embrace the American dream and we very much honor legal immigrants by ensuring that when people enter our country for legal purposes and they observe the rules, we welcome them. It’s that simple,” said Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, the chair of a House GOP task force on illegal immigration, which today unveiled its legislative package
The 16-bill package includes a bill to require localities to enforce federal immigration laws. The bill, introduced by Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, also directs that the governor could withhold state monies to localities violating the act.
Other provisions spell out the requirements of arresting officers to ascertain the citizenship of detainees, for businesses doing business with the Commonwealth to ensure that their employees have their proper work documentation and a bill introduced by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, requiring parents to indicate citizenship status as they enroll their children for public schools.
“As a career prosecutor outside of the legislature, I see the effects of our broken immigration system nearly every day,” Gilbert said. “The federal government has abdicated its responsibility to secure our borders and keep our citizens safe from illegal alien criminals. As a result, many states across the country, including Virginia, are looking at responsible and legal ways to address this issue of concern to so many citizens.”
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, DREAM Act fall victim to filibuster
An effort to get a vote on legislation repealing the don’t ask, don’t tell policy that is used to keep gays and lesbians from serving in the United States military and a vote on a bill that would open educational opportunities and a path to citizenship for undocumented Americans who are long-time U.S. residents failed today in the United States Senate.
A Republican-led filibuster of the measures, attached to the annual Defense Authorization Bill, blocked consideration of the defense bill and the don’t ask, don’t tell and DREAM Act bills.
Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner voted with Democrats on a motion to bring the bills to a vote. The vote fell four votes short of the 60 needed to suspend debate.
Two Democrats, Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, voted with Republicans to uphold the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted no as a procedural tactic; under Senate rules, by voting with the majority he can revive the bill at a later date if he wants, and early indications after the vote are that the bills will be revived for consideration after the November congressional elections.
“Once again, politicians are playing politics with people’s lives. Filibustering the defense authorization bill to block action on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal and the DREAM Act — two measures that do justice to the fundamental principle of fairness — is a disappointment and disservice to our country,” said Rea Carey, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.,-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan talked with reporters before the vote to express the support of the Obama administration for the DREAM Act.
“I believe it’s not only the right thing to do, for the students, who want for themselves the same thing that we want for our children, and it’s also the right thing to do for our country. In this economy, we need everyone trained and prepared for the jobs of the future,” Duncan said.
“The DREAM Act means that students who have spent most of their lives here in America can get a college education. It would put students who have already been educated in our schools on a path to citizenship. It would empower states to apply in-state tution rates to undocumented students. Above all, it would stop punishing innocent young people for the accidental circumstance of their birth,” Duncan said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
DREAM Act rally to greet McDonnell
Members of a Valley-based group will greet Gov. Bob McDonnell on his way to his town-hall meeting at James Madison University in Harrisonburg on Thursday to voice their disapproval of the Republican’s stance on immigration.
“We believe that immigration is a federal issue, and that politicians such as Ken Cuccinelli and Gov. McDonnell should be pushing our Congress and president to fix our broken immigration system. The future of our country needs the DREAM Act so that people such as myself are able to become successful and lend to Virginia’s economy. Pass the DREAM Act now,” said Isabella Castillo, the leader of DREAM Activist Virginia, which is working to lobby members of the Virginia congressional delegation to support the federal DREAM Act.
The DREAM Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation coauthored by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, would impact the estimated 65,000 children of undocumented workers who graduate from U.S. high schools annually by opening to them eligibility for a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship that requires completion of a college degree or two years of military service.
The political climate in Virginia relative to immigration has in recent weeks been hostile. Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general, has issued an advisory opinion to the effect that he believes state law gives local and state police the power to ask for immigration documents when performing a lawful stop and suspicious of whether someone is illegal. And for his part McDonnell has appealed to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to authorize a program giving Virginia state troopers the authority of federal immigration agents.
“It has become clear that there is strong opposition to 287g both nationally and in Virginia. We want to make it clear to McDonnell that we do not support this legislation,” DREAM Activists member Nicole Budzius said.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
EMU grad among DREAM Act protestors arrested
Isabel Castillo, a 2007 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University, was one of 21 recent graduates and current students from universities – all undocumented immigrants – from around the United States
who were arrested for acts of non-violent civil disobedience at the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building on July 20.
All of them were brought to the United States as children. They have been raised and educated here – this is “home” to them, since few can recall living anywhere else, Castillo said in an interview at EMU, three days after she was booked and released.
Castillo chose to be arrested, along with four young adults from Arizona, California, Illinois and Texas, by refusing to leave the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., when requested to do so by his staff members.
The protesters initially were welcomed when they visited Reid’s office to ask him to put the DREAM Act – which stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors – to vote in the Senate before the end of this legislative session of Congress.
“I have been waiting quietly since this legislation was first debated in Congress in 2001,” Castillo said. “Looking ahead, I do not think there is going to be a better opportunity than the present to get this legislation passed. I cannot stay quiet anymore.”
EMU president Loren Swartzendruber and provost Fred Kniss have both spoken in support of Castillo’s efforts. “The DREAM Act is an important and necessary piece of legislation, and I have written to our Virginia senators encouraging its passage,” said Swartzendruber. “We are glad that one of our alumni is working so courageously to promote the DREAM Act.”
Without the DREAM Act, Castillo cannot obtain a social security number. She cannot work legally and thus cannot use her social work degree to support herself. She cannot get student loans if she wishes to continue to graduate school. She cannot even marry someone legally living here and be certain that she would ever be allowed to join her husband as a legal resident. She cannot travel outside of the United States and be able to return to her hometown of Harrisonburg.
For years, Castillo has lived in the shadows in Harrisonburg, getting by with casual work such as babysitting. “I am tired of living like this. I want to have an opportunity to do the right thing – to get in line for [legal] residency and to prove myself worthy of it,” she stated. “[But] I am not just doing this for me; I am doing this for the 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from U.S. high schools each year and who have no future the way things are now.”
Castillo has decided to gamble that speaking up with her real name – telling her real story to the public wherever possible – will yield better results than continuing to stay in the shadows. She takes solace in a favorite Spanish quotation – “Dios aprieta pero no ahorca” – which roughly means that God won’t place more on her than she can bear.
Castillo said Reid’s Senate staffers pleaded with the protesters not to force them to call in law enforcement officers on July 20. The staff even got Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on a speaker phone to try to persuade Castillo and her fellow protestors not to risk arrest. (Gutierrez himself was arrested at a May 1 protest before the White House – he said he would not move from the White House fence until he was arrested or until comprehensive immigration reform was signed.)
Castillo listened politely to Rep. Gutierrez, knowing he was sympathetic to her cause. But she and her fellow protesters – including a dozen that Castillo led from Harrisonburg – had previously decided that they must speak up now.
Castillo was born in Mexico and brought to the United States by her parents at age 6 without proper papers. Basically, if a child is brought into the United States in such a manner, there is no method for becoming a documented resident in later years, regardless of his or her academic accomplishments or social contributions.
Like all “undocumented immigrants,” Castillo is at constant risk of deportation to the country where she was born, a risk undoubtedly heightened by her decision to go public with the difficulties that she and hundreds of thousands like her face.
Castillo views herself as an “American” in every way except for having, as she puts it, a nine-digit social security number. She has few recollections of her pre-school life in Mexico. All of her formal schooling took place here. She graduated from Turner Ashby High School south of Harrisonburg with a 4.0 GPA. She graduated magna cum laude from EMU.
Castillo says she could not have made it through EMU without the help of two married employees – Deanna Durham, assistant professor in the applied social sciences department, and Byron Peachey, associate campus pastor. The couple has remained supportive since Castillo graduated three years ago. When she needed help with getting her group to and from Washington D.C., for example, Durham and Peachey drove the group.
Under the DREAM Act, undocumented young immigrants would be given a path to legal residency if they contribute to the United States by serving in the military or getting a college education. The process would still be arduous – it would take at least six years and perhaps as much as a decade – for a young person to satisfy all the requirements for getting a “Green Card.” Yet Castillo said she would welcome such a path, no matter how hard or long, because at least the path would be there.
In a Washington Post article the day after the arrests, Margie McHugh, co-director of the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, was quoted as saying: “It is a bit of a surprise to see how bold and open a lot of the young people are about their status, and that’s changed from the past.”
The Post noted, however, that there are definite risks: “In Arizona [in early May] … undocumented students staged a protest in front of Republican Sen. John McCain’s office. Three were arrested and are in deportation proceedings.”
McHugh told the Post: “I think it’s not possible to say yet if it’s a safe or an extremely risky thing for them to do. They are taking a great risk in putting themselves out there so publicly. In the end, they’ll be judged to have been quite prescient if the law does end up happening and naïve if it doesn’t.”
Story by Bonnie Price Lofton. Lofton is the publications editor at Eastern Mennonite University.
DREAM to reality
Isabel wanted to create an impression on her visit to Washington, so she had members of the group there to lobby Sen. Mark Warner for support for the DREAM Act to wear their graduation caps.
“We weren’t sure if we would actually be able to meet with him one-on-one,” she said. But the senator was on hand for the meeting, and “he definitely took notice.”
“When he came into the door, he said, Congratulations to the graduates,” said Isabel, who is heading up a local effort based in Harrisonburg-Rockingham to drum up support for the DREAM Act.
The acronym stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. Isabel, who asked us not to use her last name, or give particulars related to her schooling, was an alien minor under the definition of the legislation, coming to the United States and specifically the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area, when her parents moved her family here nearly 19 years ago. Continue reading “DREAM to reality” »
Erik Camayd-Freixas: The DREAM Act and the wealth of nations: An educator’s perspective
Posted by afp on December 8, 2010 · 7 Comments
National identity and allegiance are established during adolescence. This is their homeland. Brought here as minors, they have broken no law, yet are deprived of legal status through no fault of their own. Now these meritorious graduates cannot go to college, get a driver’s license, or hold a legal job. What exactly do our lawmakers expect them to do?
Their parents risked everything to flee life-threatening poverty and lack of personal safety. They bring the immigrant’s resolve and determination, ambition and work ethic on which this country continues to be built, generation after generation.
Migrant parents take our toughest, most dangerous and worst-paid jobs, which create higher-level opportunities for Americans. They step in at businesses and farms so American youth can opt for higher education and 21st-century professions, making our country more competitive in the global economy. They do so in hopes that their own children will get ahead and do great things.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner,” said Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776), “but from their regard to their own interest.” And when Tocqueville, in Democracy in America (1835), sought to unveil the secret of our success, he found it was enlightened self-interest that prompts us to assist others and work for the common good.
The DREAM Act would grant conditional status to talented, crime-free youngsters who entered the U.S. before age 16, have lived here at least five years, and enroll in college or the military for at least two years. Yet they would not be eligible for in-state tuition, scholarships, Medicaid, food stamps, permanent residency or sponsoring family members for at least 10 years.
This fifth version of the bill, introduced Nov. 30 by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as a concession to Republican opponents, is disappointing. Still, Republicans have vowed to filibuster until the Senate extends Bush-era tax cuts for the rich.
If passed, an estimated 800,000 high school graduates from marginalized and persecuted families, living in fear of incarceration and deportation, will have a fighting chance to pursue their interests and fully contribute to what Tocqueville once called “the most enlightened and free nation on earth.”
A statistical certainty, many of these dreamers would become doctors who save American lives (perhaps yours or mine), war heroes who defend their country and teachers who provide our children the knowledge and opportunity denied to them.
I came here as an 8-year-old with my Cuban-Lebanese father, a penniless widower with a fifth-grade education who never learned English. Because this once-enlightened country gave him the opportunity to work, which he did seven days a week, I was able to earn a Harvard PhD. Now, as an American, I can defend my country’s fundamental values, both in the classroom and the press.
Ten states have longstanding laws granting undocumented residents not a handout, but a leveled playing field: in-state tuition and limited financial aid. Studies show that this has not reduced opportunities for citizens. The College Board, which stands for equity and access, and every serious educator in this country, support the DREAM Act.
This should not be a battle between Democrats and Republicans, educators and politicians. There is no political, economic, rational or moral justification for withholding education from the poor.
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