[UPDATED With Email From an Arrested DREAMer] Five Undocumented College Students Detained at ICE Offices in Los Angeles After Sit-In; Three from Orange County


UPDATE, 2:39 p.m.: Francisco Javier Bravo, one of the arrested OC DREAMers, sent out an email to friends explaining the reasoning behind the protest.

“Hello Family/Friend/Ally,” his email began. “Today I will be risking arrest to bring attention to one of my very important issues.”

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We are demanding President Barack Obama to grant all DREAM Act eligible youth Administrative relief through an executive order. Last year Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act through the Senate and DREAM Act youth are still at risk of being deported without hope of DREAM act passing in this congressional year.   

Undocumented youth, the immigrant community and supporters were hopeful that the recent announcements by President Obama and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would bring relief to DREAM Act-eligible youth by putting an end to their deportations. However, due to programs like Secure Communities and 287g, and the lack of a clear mechanism of implementation, the numbers of undocumented youth who are incarcerated, shackled and deported to countries they barely know continues to rise.  

Please sign in the petition to support our efforts in asking President Obama to grant DREAM ACT eligible youth Administrative Relief through an executive order. The petition only takes two minutes to sign.    

As I will be risking arrest I will also need your help in raising money for my bail. I understand many of us are going through tough financial situations but your support would mean a lot to me and the whole undocumented youth movement. Please follow the link for more info; donations of any amount would be appreciated.    

As a Dreamer from the Orange County Dream Team we will continue to advocate for the rights of undocumented students. Today our voices will be heard in Orange County and through out the nation. Thank you so much for your support now, in the past and the future.

ORIGINAL POST, Oct., 12, 1:11 p.m.: We just got word that five
undocumented college students purposefully walked into the offices of
the Los Angeles branch of ICE an hour ago, staged a sit-in and were
detained by the Los Angeles Police Department for refusing to leave.

Three of the students are members of the Orange County DREAM Team.

A press release by DREAM Team LA stated the action happened “to demand that President Obama stop the deportation of undocumented youth and allow them the opportunity to apply for work authorization.”

Arrested were Nancy Meza (famous for antagonizing KFI's JohnKen pendejos so much that they read her cell phone number on the air) and Neidi Dominguez of Los Angeles, and Tony Ortuño, Francisco Javier Bravo, and Adrian Gonzalez, all of Orange County.

OC DREAM Team organizer Vanessa Castillo told the Weekly, “I'm sad that good people who, on other days are out doing great work in their schools and in their communities, have to put a stop today to their daily lives, to participate in these actions to have their voices be heard in the name of justice.”

More details to come as they become available…

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