"El Magonista"
Vol. 5 No. 13
April 25, 2017

Courageous CMSC-COLEF California-Mexico Dreamers Ready to Go !!!
The California-Mexico Studies Center 
Armando Vazquez-Ramos, President & CEO  
1551 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach, CA 90815
Phone: (562) 430-5541 Cell: (562) 972-0986
 
Like us on  Facebook, Instagram  and  Twitter
 
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube View on Instagram



BY: JASON MCGAHAN, LA WEEKLY, SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2017

LOS ANGELES -  "Dreamers" - the young and undocumented who are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by President Obama - have been all over the news lately.  And the news has not been good.

Federal agents are  allegedly deporting them, which the Department of Homeland Security denies. And the number of ex-Dreamers being deported after losing their protected status has " soared," according to a recent story by the L.A. Times.

Then there's the Dreamer who's suing the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the agency deported him even though his DACA status wasn't due to expire until 2018. DHS responded with a statement on April 19 saying that Juan Manuel Montes, the 23-year-old Mexican national and DACA enrollee, was not deported but rather left the United States without having secured the permit mandated under the program.

Legal advocates say the feds appear to be looking for excuses to arrest Dreamers and place them in removal proceedings. But the DACA program for now remains intact; President Trump has pledged to uphold its protections, which cover undocumented people brought to the country as children.

Armando Vazquez-Ramos refers to the recent headlines about Dreamers as "much ado about nothing" - and he's about to take action to prove it.
Vazquez-Ramos is director of the California-Mexico Studies Center, a nonprofit that grew out of a program he founded at California State University Long Beach, where he's a professor. He estimates the program has taken 120 Dreamers on study-abroad trips to Mexico since 2014.

Despite the uncertainty over DACA's future, Vazquez-Ramos is planning to take a group of 48 Dreamers to Mexico on a study abroad program this summer. It will be the first such trip he has taken under the Trump administration, and it flies in the face of advice from legal advocates, colleges and universities.
" Studying and traveling abroad despite schools saying we shouldn't go is our way of pushing back against the fear of the new administration." - Sheila Salinas, a recent Cal State Long Beach grad.
Since Inauguration Day, university systems in California have been urging undocumented students covered by DACA to remain in the country. They're making that recommendation even though "Dreamers" are still legally eligible to leave the country and return without negative immigration consequences, under a provision of DACA known as Advance Parole.

Ricardo Vazquez, a spokesman for the University of California system, directed L.A. Weekly to the following travel advice,  an FAQ issued by the Undocumented Legal Services Center in January:
Q. I received Advance Parole to be abroad after January 20, 2017 (for example, study abroad). Should I go on my trip?

A. No, you should not leave or be outside of the country now that the new president has been sworn into office. This is because if President Trump repeals DACA while you are abroad, it is very likely that you will not be permitted to re-enter the United States upon return, with or without Advance Parole. If you want to remain in the United States, you should NOT leave the United States if you are undocumented or DACAmented.
California State University Chancellor Tim White issued a similar announcement that all students with Advance Parole should return to the country prior to Jan. 20 and discouraged them from leaving after that date.

"Even my own campus is showing signs of weakness," Vazquez-Ramos says of Cal State Long Beach, where 28 percent of students are Latino. The Dreamers have their own group on campus, and the former president of the student body is undocumented.

"What's happening is that colleges and universities are totally afraid and cowardly refusing to take the risk," Vazquez-Ramos says. "In my opinion, they are simply afraid and more concerned about their image and liability than in the potential for these young people to have a chance [to travel] as long as DACA is around.

"We're not going to be standing around until Trump decides to do something with DACA," he adds. "The reason they haven't acted in three months is because they understand the political consequences."

Students from the Summer 2016 California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad Program traveled to cultural landmarks in Mexico, including the Temple of the Sun in the ancient archeological complex of Teotihuacán / Photo: Lidieth Arevalo (CMSC)

Should Trump cancel the DACA program, or the feds begin ignoring it, an estimated 742,000 young people would be affected, a third of whom are in California.

One of them is Sheila Salinas, a recent graduate of Cal State Long Beach and the administrative director of the California-Mexico Studies Center, who is part of the group going to Mexico in August.

Salinas, 26, is handling the travel arrangements and making sure everyone's travel documents are in order to return to the U.S. She says the current lack of support from the university is nothing new. Even under President Obama, she says, "we didn't have programs that supported DACA students to study abroad."

"Most definitely there is a bit of fear," she says. "I think studying and traveling abroad despite schools saying we shouldn't go is our way of pushing back against the fear of the new administration."


#DreamersStudyAbroad  ~  #CMDSummer2017


Informed Immigrant: Know Your Rights & Family Preparedness (Video)


In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, millions of documented and undocumented immigrants face increased uncertainty around their status in the United States. Immigrant rights organizations and leaders across the country have banded together and pooled resources to help immigrants and their allies obtain the current best-known information and guidance.

All immigrants, undocumented and documented, in the U.S. have certain rights under the Constitution.  Learn about your rights and share with your family, friends, and community to stay safe, informed, and empowered.

Video courtesy of: Informed Immigrant


Dreamers' Campaign for INE Credential Registration

A CALL FOR ALL DREAMERS AND IMMIGRANTS OF MEXICAN-ORIGIN TO OBTAIN AN INE I.D. CARD


(Download the English Version of this flyer here)

Are you an immigrant of Mexican-origin currently living in the United States? Did you know that you can get an INE Voting I.D. for FREE? 

An INE Credential is the most widely used form of identification in Mexico, and it also allows Mexican citizens living abroad to vote in the presidential elections in Mexico.

The California-Mexico Studies Center (CMSC) and the California-Mexico Dreamers' Network (CMDNet) are launching the Dreamers' Campaign for INE Voting I.D. Registration, in an effort to help Mexican-born  Dreamers and their  families obtain an INE Voting I.D. (Credencial de Elector)  as a civic education and engagement project, and to promote voting rights of all Mexicans living in the U.S. to increase their participation in Mexico's 2018 Presidential and Mexico City's Jefe de Gobierno.

Help us spread the word by sharing our campaign flyers and the following instructions manual so that more Mexican citizens living in the U.S. can register for an INE I.D. card and vote in the upcoming presidential elections in Mexico.

Download the CMSC's INE Instructions Manual 
Click here or click on the image below


For more information visit our website:
Or email us at: ine@calmexcenter.org 


May Day March & Rally in Los Angeles, CA


The CMSC in collaboration with the California-Mexico Dreamers' Network (CMDNet), call  ALL DREAMERS , allies, families, and friends to join the general strike and march " May Day: A Day Without Immigrants, " happening on May 1, 2017 beginning at 10 am between Olympic and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.

March on May 1!
This is a call:
  • To reject mass deportations implemented by President Trump's Administration
  • To propel Law Iniciative #SB54 to declare California a Sanctuary State
  • To demand the protection of the #DACA and #Dreamers programs.
Time: 10 AM
Location:  Olympic and Broadway (DTLA)


¡A marchar el Primero de Mayo! 
Llamado a la comunidad:
  • A rechazar las deportaciones masivas implementadas por la Administración del Presidente Trump
  • A impulsar la iniciativa de ley #SB54 para declarar a California un Estado santuario
  • A demandar que se protejan los programas #DACA y #Dreamers
Hora: 10 AM
Lugar de reunión:  Olympic y Broadway

Organized by:  CA Latino Congreso.
 
Share the  EVENT ON FACEBOOK

Having a lawyer can make all the difference in the world to someone facing deportation in federal immigration court, where the law is dizzyingly byzantine. Yet only 37% of potential deportees have one. Part of the problem is a lack of attorneys trained in immigration law, and part of it is money - immigrants, unsurprisingly, often lack the resources to hire lawyers. Of course, if they were facing criminal charges, they would be provided with lawyers as a constitutional right under U.S. Supreme Court rulings...  Read More
Gloria Itzel Montiel says she "somehow always knew" she was undocumented. But knowing what that could mean for her future only began to sink in around eighth grade.  She was a bright, academic teenager. Her favorite pastime was going to the library-"that's what I would do on the weekends for fun," she says. But despite being at the top of her class, she found she was locked out of programs like A Better Chance, which give students of color the opportunity to be placed into prestigious prep schools with significant scholarships. ..    Read More
As bad hombre tales go, Eduardo García's is classic. A border-crossing Mexican immigrant, he moved around the United States through the better part a decade, harvesting the produce that most of us take for granted throughout what might be thought of as a stolen childhood. Starting at age 5, the unschooled Mr. García embarked on a journey that drew on native intelligence, natural gift and a willingness to take on backbreaking work to make something of himself - in his case, a chef.. Read More    
En Sacramento se preparan para debatir dos proyectos de ley destinados a detener la construcción del muro de Trump. Los legisladores estatales demócratas Ricardo Lara de Bell Gardens y Lorena González de San Diego lanzaron prácticamente un ultimátum a los constructores interesados en participar en la edificación del muro en la frontera con México...    Leer más
La separación familiar por deportación afecta a migrantes devueltos por las autoridades de Estados Unidos, residentes de México o ese país, y constituyen un indicador que es medido anual y trimestralmente. El investigador del Departamento de Estudios de Población de El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (El Colef), Jesús Javier Peña Muñoz, dijo que se realizó una investigación con base a datos de la Encuesta sobre Migración en la Frontera Norte de México...  Leer más
En el contexto del reciente retorno de migrantes mexicanos de Estados Unidos (EUA) a México, la incorporación de sus hijos al sistema educativo mexicano se ha convertido en un tema prioritario.. Leer más