A Mexican woman who had to say goodbye to her deceased father via FaceTime; a South Korean who is about to renounce his DACA status to study abroad at one of the best business schools in the world. These are some of the human stories congressmembers heard from a delegation of dreamers who traveled to Washington, D.C. to ask them to restore DACA’s Advance Parole…
By: Lorena Arroyo, Univision News – 17 JUNE 2019
WASHINGTON D.C. - When Mayra Garibo was told that her father had suddenly died in an accident in Mexico, the 26-year-old’s first thought was that she had to find a way to return to her native country to be able to say her last goodbye.
"At that time all I thought was I need to see my dad after 18 years. I had nothing else in my mind," recalls the young woman. That's why, after meeting with her mother and brothers in Los Angeles, the city where they have resided since they arrived in the U.S. in 2001, she ran to seek a lawyer.
Garibo is a dreamer with DACA (the program that protects about 700,000 undocumented youth who came to the United States as children from deportation), and even though her father died on January 11, 2018, after a judge in San Francisco blocked President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the program, the court did not reinstate advance parole, a special permit that allowed DACA recipients to travel abroad.
Although Mayra quickly gathered all the necessary documents to prove to the government that she needed to travel to her country for urgent humanitarian reasons to bury her father, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rejected her application and told her that this was no longer a possibility for dreamers.
"I had to call my aunt to tell her that they had not given me permission to say goodbye to my dad; I made a video call and had to witness his mass via phone," she recalls. "It was very difficult to see my father who passed away in the coffin and not be able to be there."
"I do not want other dreamers to go through this"
Garibo will not see her father again. But, since that day, the young woman born in Matazlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Management has not stopped fighting. On one hand, she has continued to appeal to the government to consider her Advance Parole application in order to travel to Mexico and see her grandparents before they pass away, and on the other hand, she has been contacting congress representatives to promote the reinstatement of DACA’s Advance Parole for all Dreamers.
"I do not want other dreamers to go through this; it's hard to lose a relative, a father, a mother, but it is harder to know that the decision to be with them is not yours," she told Univision in Washington D.C., where she joined a delegation of 40 DACA beneficiaries from across the country to advocate for this cause.
During their short visit in the Capitol, the young people dedicated themselves to promote their cause, hosted informative workshops, scheduled and attended meetings with legislators, and shared their testimonies with senators and representatives.
"We want to show that there is an urgent need for advance parole," explains Andrea Guevara, a dreamer originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. "That’s why we are sharing our stories like Mayra's, who watched her dad's funeral via FaceTime on her phone, and for educational reasons as well, like Jason’s case who has a very interesting story."
Guevara refers to Jason Hong, a student of South Korean origin who is about to resign his DACA status to go abroad to study a master's degree at a business school in Madrid, Spain.
The dreamer who renounces DACA for his dream of studying
"I will go to a school with a lot of reputation, it is one of the best in the world and, at least, once I leave, my immigration status will not determine my future," Hong told Univision Noticias. The young man, who lives in New Jersey, plans to leave the country the first week of August. If by that date he does not get a government-granted travel permit to do so, the 'Law of Punishment' will apply to him, for which he will not be able to return to the U.S. for ten years for the time he has been undocumented.
"I do not think I can come back in the next 10 years, but I'm trying to figure out if there's a better way to get back with a waiver." Traveling abroad is something that DACA beneficiaries used to be able to do before with Advance Parole, so I hope the U.S. does something for dreamers", he says.
For this South Korean student who came to the U.S. in 2001 with his mother and sister, it is his first time lobbying in Washington, D.C. And although he feels grateful for the congressmembers that took time to listen to their stories, he says he is also frustrated.
"I have mixed feelings. They say that they care, that they want to do something, but this has been going on for so long; it’s already been more than 18 years. I appreciate the words but if they do not take action, then they are not helping us," he says.
"Use the power of your voice"
Hong says that most of the people they spoke with in Congress were Democrats who supported HR-6, to provide a pathway to citizenship to Dreamers, which was recently approved by the House of Representatives. However, the young man believes that this initiative has "very little chance" to pass in the Senate. "And nobody knows if the Trump administration will continue the next period, so with all these uncertainties, I feel I can’t wait any longer," he adds.
He was one of the young people who could speak to California congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard about her case. Although the group would divide into smaller groups to attend different meetings, nobody wanted to miss this meeting with the legislator who introduced the original Dream Act and also the HR-6.
After hearing the stories of several dreamers, Royball-Allard said she was sorry for what they are going through and also said she understood how frustrating it must be for them to have no control over their lives, which she defined as "inexcusable".
And although she affirmed that she and her colleagues will continue to advocate for them, she recognized the difficulty to pass a permanent solution for them with the current administration. For this reason, she recommended encouraging family members and friends who can vote to do so for candidates who will defend their interests. She also encouraged them to continue telling their stories to congressmembers so that they understand why Advance Parole is important.
"Use the power of your voice to campaign and encourage your friends to vote because voting matters and political decisions impact your life; help communities understand they have power," the California congresswoman said. "And keep doing what you are doing, your stories are valuable; you have the power to change the vote of congressmembers. Even though it might seem like things are not changing, you are making a difference".
While Roybal-Allard gave her speech, some dreamers could not contain the tears. "Coming from someone who understands the subject so much, from someone who has fought for so long; it's something profound. I think a lot of the things she told us we already know, but I expected something that would give us hope, but the truth is that we are facing a harsh reality with this administration," says Karina Ruiz de Diaz of Phoenix, Arizona, who, at 34, is one of the oldest dreamers.
The following steps
"There is no optimism that they will give a way but we will continue to press through the congressmembers and senators that give us the opportunity to do the right thing: stop the discrimination and this application of their criteria that is so inhumane and that certainly affects thousands and thousands of young people who are suffering the loss of loved ones," Armando Vázquez-Ramos, director of the California-Mexico Studies Center and one of the leaders who traveled to Washington, told Univision Noticias.
According to Vázquez-Ramos, on this trip to the capital, the dreamers managed to continue adding congressional signatures to a response letter advocating for the restoration of DACA’s Advance Parole, which will be sent to the interim secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, and to the new director of USCIS, Kenneth Cuccinelli.
In addition, the group clings to a provision of the San Francisco court order that temporarily blocked Trump's decision to eliminate DACA. Although the court ruled out the continued extension of Advance Parole for DACA recipients, in his argumentation Judge William Aslup states that "nothing prevents individuals from asking for this relief from the agency (USCIS) or prohibits the agency from guaranteeing it in deserving cases.”
That is why the case of Mayra Garibo, which is still in process, has been kept alive administratively. In addition, the California-Mexico Studies Center is preparing a class action lawsuit against the government for the cases of 75 students who submitted their applications for an advance parole permit before the Trump administration ordered the suspension of DACA on Sep. 5, 2017. The applications and documentation of the 75 students were never processed and were administratively closed.
When the advance parole for DACA was in force, Professor Vázquez-Ramos organized an educational program through which 160 dreamers managed to travel to their countries of origin. In total, 45,740 young people were able to go abroad between 2012 and 2017 with this provision.
Source: Lorena Arroyo ~ Univision ~ June 17, 2019
