You’ve lived almost your entire life in the U.S. What if you found out that you were going to be deported to a country that you have no connection with?
On February 1st, 15 year-old Floridian teen, Lidiane Carmo, was in a multiple car crash that killed her family. While she is experiencing loss and being treated at a hospital, a rumor spread that due to her undocumented status, she may face deportation back to Brazil.[1] Fortunately, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) recently adopted to only investigate undocumented individuals with criminal charges.
However, one San Francisco student experienced a close encounter. Last year, ICE broke into Steve Li’s home. He was then held in an Arizona detention center for 6 weeks to be sent back to Peru. With community persistence like calls to the CA senate, media coverage, and legal efforts, Senator Diane Feinstein proposed a private bill that nullified his deportation.[2]
For undocumented youth, there are no options to go through the naturalization process. However, the DREAM Act is a legislative bill, which allows the process of obtaining citizenship for current undocumented students living in the U.S. [3] Some of the requirements include being a law-abiding resident with 2 years of military service or high school diploma. So far, it has been overturned twice, but with large enough support, the DREAM Act will one day be passed.
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