Carmen Visits The Lou Show and Talks About the DREAM Act

Lift the Torch

Pedro Gutierrez led the crowds and lifted the torch of freedom on the Phoenix Martin Luther King Parade.
He could have been doing so many things that day.. many... like packing his belongings, maybe retreat to his place in shame or bitterness since the following day his deportation had been scheduled, but he decided to attend the Parade. "It was crazy", he said, "I chose to go to the parade".
Lewis and Jane Storey found my name and phone number on Facebook thanks to a lead provided by Luis Avila, hoping I will be able to help Pedro Gutierrez and save him from deportation. The Storeys have been mentoring Pedro for years touched by his story of good behavior in spite of tremendous odds. Being brought undocumented by his grandmother (who had legal status) after his parents wasted their lives lost on drugs. Grandma was later unsuccessful making connections with more relatives in Mexico when she fell gravely ill. When she dies, leaves Pedro at 11 at the care of her African American husband, who abandons him before Pedro becomes an adult.
In spite of the abandonment, Pedro dreams to follow his step grandfather's life in the military and sought recruiters to join. His legal status prevents Pedro to enlist but relentless he "trains" along the new recruits.
Getting all the details on Pedro and his touching story I asked my fellow CADENA members for their permission to use the list of supporters and request their action with phone calls and faxes asking DHS to stop Pedro's deportation. I also connected with Mohammad Abdollahi from dreamactivist network who made possible connections at national level, even finding a terrific Tucson lawyer, Mo Goldman, who took the legal side of Pedro's defense pro-bono. It was an exciting week where we put together a national team with the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition (which took care of the media events and rallies for Pedro), Adam Luna from America's Voice with the social media resources to send on line faxes and extensive distribution list, Mo from Dreamactivist network, CADENA, Lawyer Mo Goldman and the Storeys.
Thanks to the actions of many subscribers to our networks, DHS delayed the deportation date and granted Pedro Gurtierrez eventually deferred action.
Pedro now can be without fear, as long as this administrative procedure is in place.
On Saturday I saw Pedro and the Storeys in Casa Grande along with other students ready to form The Arizona DREAM Act coalition of Pinal County. Hearing Pedro recount of what he thought was his last hours of his life in the USA before being thrown into homelessness, made my own petty life disappointments dwarf by his experience.
"I chose to go to the parade... people recognized me and asked me to lead the Martin Luther King parade...gave me the the torch. What I thought was my last day of my life in the USA was the best day of my life. I could gave everything up for those moments when I had the torch and all would have been worth it".
So I wake up in the middle of the night and I think of Pedro and I get reminded: "live your life like you are going to be deported tomorrow". Lift the torch and lead the parade.

Secrets

As an advocate sometime people share personal information that I need to keep secret.

There are a lot of things that I keep for myself, minding at all time the best interest for the DREAMers and the DREAM Act advocacy.

I have been given the go ahead to reveal one of the many secrets and now I let you all know Oscar Vazquez has enrolled in the army and will finish basic training in June. This is just an example of the sense of patriotic duty the dreamers have in their hearts. If you follow the DREAM Act advocacy in Arizona, you will remember his story.

Oscar Vazquez was member of the team who beat MIT in the MATE underwater robotics competition and was famous around the world thanks to the article "La Vida Robot", by Joshua Davis. The article was the single most clicked article online on Wired Magazine and was reprinted in Readers' Digest editions in several languages in many countries. Read the original article clicking here.

Notoriety followed.

Watch the ABC Nighline video piece on the mighty Falcon robotics here.

After successfully completing a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering, Oscar left the country, self deported, frustrated by the lack of action of the federal government and in search for legal venue for re-entry.

It was a gamble, because there are no legal or administrative roads to officially do this. But Oscar and his young family, Karla and Sammy, where ready to endure the hardships. Please read the AZ Republic article on his self deportation here.

I knew of Oscar departure after some weeks he had been living in Mexico. I knew some persons, including some VIPs, were requesting DHS his re-entry but nothing happened.

I decided to look for support in different congressional offices starting for the obvious in Arizona. I was flatly turned back at Ed Pastor's office where they explained only in cases of extreme hardship (i.e. a citizen wife with a malignant cancer in her head waiting for the re-entry of an undocumented husband to assist her and the children ) will be considered. There was no consideration to economic hardship or separation of father and sons, daughters, husbands and wives.

I turned to Raul Grijalva's offices who were a little more sympathetic and willing to explore the possibility but I do not think anything came from it.

I decided to connect with the office of Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois, mayor proponent of the dream act at the national level. That was when things started to move in the right direction.

I was going back and forth exchanging e-mails with Durbin's excellent staff, which arranged meetings with DHS to petition Oscar.

Although it seemed clear to me the impossible may happen, the "legalization" of Oscar Vazquez, Mohammad Abdollahi from Dreamactivist.org confirmed what I suspected in his characteristic unassuming way. " Hey, Carmen ! do you know that Oscar Vazquez is coming home?", he said.

But the family did not wanted all to know until he was actually here. For weeks that seemed like years I kept the secret. Then he finally came home.

Today, Oscar has been away for basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky; since Feb 1, 2011. He went in as a Specialist (Spc) thanks to his BA in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Cavalry Scout/Infantry.His family will be reunited with him again on April ready to face their new adventure.