MALDEF now offers a scholarship to support the nation’s college and graduate student leaders who have been outstanding advocates for the DREAM Act and all immigrant rights. In 2012, MALDEF will offer scholarships of up to $5,000 each to deserving DREAM Act student activists. All current college and graduate students are eligible to apply. Students seeking to enroll in college or university for the first time (or to re-enroll following a leave of absence) are also eligible to apply if they will be enrolled in a college or university before the end of 2012. All applications must be postmarked by Monday, July 2, 2012. Students will be notified of the results in the fall of 2012.
Every year thousands of American men go to China to find a bride. The documentary film “Seeking Asian Female” follows an eccentric modern love story about Steven and Sandy – an 60 year old aging white man with “yellow fever” who is obsessed with marrying any Asian woman, and the young 30 year old Chinese bride he finds online. When Steven meets a willful young woman named Sandy from Anhui, China, over the internet and she agrees to migrate to the US to marry him. Fantasy and reality collide in this modern love story.
Told through the lens of Chinese American filmmaker Debbie Lum, who becomes the couple’s reluctant translator and marriage counselor, the film examines the penetrating effect of stereotype and expectations on love and relationships today. Debbie documents and narrates with skepticism and humor, from the early stages of Steven’s search for an Asian bride, through the moment Sandy steps foot in America for the first time, to a year into their precarious union. Global migration, Sino-American relations and the perennial battle of the sexes, weigh in on the fate of their marriage in this intimate and quirky personal documentary. “Seeking Asian Female” is at the intersection of several timely subjects – finding love online, an increasing interest in New China, and what it means to have a race-based dating preference in a supposedly “post-racial” America.
Read more: http://www.channelapa.com/2012/02/seeking-asian-female-trailer.html#ixzz1nochRxlc
Yesterday, the North Carolina DREAM Team went to the committee meeting at the Legislative Office Building of the North Carolina General Assembly. Undocumented youth stood up for their rights and fought back against the racist anti-immigrant bills and now are in danger of being deported. You can help by calling (919) 857-9103 and ask the Wake County Jail to release the three people who were arrested.
Last year, Representative Dale Folwell of Forsyth County lost all composure and confronted Jose Rico, an undocumented youth from Raleigh, North Carolina. Representative Folwell was upset because we, the NC Dream Team, released a media advisory alerting the press that the “cowards at the general assembly were attacking immigrant children” with a bill that would give school principals in K - 12 the authority to ask for a student’s immigration status. What Representative Folwell seemed to misunderstand is that school officials are there to mentor and advocate for their students and are not immigration agents. We refused to keep quiet about the matter. And we refuse to do so now. Close to 30 anti-immigrant bills were introduced last year and Represenative Folwell was one of several other representatives who sponsored these bills. This year, these same representatives have come together to form the House Select Committee on the State’s Role in Immigration Policy. Twelve representatives make up this committee. Eight of them are sponsors of anti-immigrant bills. We cannot remain silent as we watch these men instill fear in our undocumented communities. Last September in Charlotte, undocumented youth willingly faced the immigration enforcement machine. Since then, we’ve said that we will no longer remain in the shadows. We meant that.
You can check out the NC DREAM Team’s website for the event here. I hung out with them while I was in Durham for the ECAASU conference, please support them and CALL!
Myths and Facts about the New York Dream Act (S4179/A6829)
Myth 1: The Bill would provide an incentive for people to come here illegally.
Fact: The New York Dream Act offers absolutely no reason for people to enter the country illegally. It does not legalize students nor does it provide benefits for immigrants who are not already here. In fact, the New York Dream Act requires students to come to the U.S. at or before the age of 18, graduate from a New York high school or obtain a GED in New York, and have resided in New York state for at least two years prior to enactment of the legislation.
Myth 2: It will be a fiscal burden and increase the strain on state educational systems.
Fact: The New York Dream Act would make money for taxpayers. State and local taxpayers are already investing in the education of undocumented students in elementary and secondary school. It would be economically illogical to bar students from attending college and developing their careers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, those who obtain a Bachelor’s degree earn $1 million more over his or her lifetime than those with a high school degree, contributing tens of thousands of dollars to New York State’s economy. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that undocumented immigrants paid $662.4 million in taxes to New York state in 2010, making it the state with the fourth highest revenue in taxes from undocumented immigrants.
Myth 3: Documented New Yorkers will lose spots in college due to passage of the New York Dream Act.
Fact: The small number of students who will be impacted by the New York Dream Act is not significant enough to affect the opportunities of others. Moreover, allowing undocumented students to access financial aid will generate revenue for colleges and universities. While the cost of attending CUNY is $5,130 per year, the average TAP award is $2,764, the difference usually paid to the universities.
Myth 4: The New York Dream Act is a form of amnesty and would reward people who come here illegally.
Fact: The New York Dream Act will not legalize students. The bill is focused on expanding undocumented students’ access to New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). The requirements to qualify for the New York Dream Act are extensive and it will not serve as an amnesty of any sort. These students are here to stay and we should provide them with the tools to become outstanding members of New York.
March 6, Albany! Be there or be…just be there.
That is precisely how I feel when I consider my own journey, my own family’s travels. For here I am now, standing in a new country. Not as an expatriate or a resident alien, but as a citizen. And as I survey this realm — this Republic of Privilege — I realize certain things, things that my mother and father might also have realized about their new country a generation ago. I realize that my entry has yielded me great opportunities. I realize, as well, that my route of entry has taken a certain toll. I have neglected my ancestral heritage. I have lost something. Yes, I can speak some Mandarin and stir-fry a few easy dishes. I have been to China and know something of its history. Still, I could never claim to be Chinese at the core.
Yet neither would I claim, as if by default, to be merely “white inside.” I do not want to be white. I only want to be integrated. When I identify with white people who wield economic and political power, it is not for their whiteness but for their power. When I imagine myself among white people who influence the currents of our culture, it is not for their whiteness but for their influence. When I emulate white people who are at ease with the world, it is not for their whiteness but for their ease. I don’t like it that the people I should learn from tend so often to be white, for it says something damning about how opportunity is still distributed. But it helps not at all to call me white for learning from them. It is cruel enough that the least privileged Americans today have colored skin, the most privileged fair. It is crueler still that by our very language we should help convert this fact into rule. The time has come to describe assimilation as something other than the White Way of Being.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The New York State Youth Leadership Council is organizing a day of action in Albany, New York to push for immigration reform in the form of the DREAM act. Thousands of undocumented youth are denied the daily opportunities that so many take for granted. Join us on March 6, 2012 as we rise up together to bring change to a flawed system!
Buses from New York City will be provided by NYSYLC, so spread the word!
The NYSYLC will be having buses leaving from NYC, if you’re interested please REGISTER HERE:http://bit.ly/nydaalbanyaction
Every year thousands of undocumented youth graduate from New York high schools and face an uncertain future because of their immigration status. For years the federal government has failed our communities by refusing to pass the DREAM Act. This has left undocumented youth in NY without any form of relief. As a state with one of the largest immigrant populations, NY should be at the forefront of progressive immigration policies, pushing back on the tide of national and local anti-immigrant policies.
The NYSYLC will be having buses leaving from NYC, if you’re interested please REGISTER HERE:http://bit.ly/nydaalbanyaction
If you are interested in coming to the Albany Day of action and live outside of NYC please go ahead and REGISTER, we will be contacting you to make arrangements.
“API women won a major immigrant rights victory last week when officials within the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a proposed rule change that would allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the US while they apply for a waiver to remain with their families until they receive permission to obtain a green card. They would then return to their native country to get their green card with a visa that would allow them to return to the US more quickly than they can today. This simple rule change would greatly benefit API women and their families.
The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum is the only national, multi-issue Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women’s organization in the country dedicated to building a movement to advance social justice and human rights for API women and girls. As a co-leader of the National Coalition of Immigrant Women’s Rights and the We Belong Together initiative, NAPAWF has been advocating for immigration policies that prioritize keeping women and their families together.
Under current immigration policy, undocumented persons who are married to US citizens or who have US citizen parents, are eligible to receive a green card. However, they must return to their home country in order to apply for a visa, which triggers a 3-year or 10-year bar to re-enter the US. This rule has created a catch-22 that has left many individuals that are eligible for green cards but who are unable or unwilling to leave their families for 10 years, with no chance of obtaining the green card for which they are eligible.
The proposed rule change wouldn’t change existing law, lower the requirements for obtaining a green card, or eliminate the requirement that undocumented immigrants and their families prove “extreme hardship” to the US citizen due to the separation. However, a family unity waiver would remove one huge barrier and potentially allow hundreds of thousands of families to stay together.
Although this proposed rule change doesn’t help those who are ineligible under current policies, such as same-sex couples who are not eligible to petition for legal status even for their legal spouses. Still, this rule is an important improvement for women than current policies and will enable more women and families to come out from the shadows and stop living in fear.”
