DREAMer's Awareness Rally
President and Vice President of the DREAMer Club, Moises Rosales Medina and Myra Ramirez Santiago, leading the march throughout campus. Photograph by Hector Solorzano.
Brody Salazar and Hector Solorzano
On Tuesday, September 5, the DREAMer's Club held a rally, with a size of about 20 people, on Chaffey's Rancho campus beginning in front of the Language Arts building, marching to the Free Speech quad and, lastly, moving to the marquee. Many students joined the group as they marched throughout campus.
The purpose of the demonstration was to show support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. It also made Chaffey students, faculty and staff that there is a DREAMers club on campus.
DACA was a federal program created by an executive order signed by President Obama in 2012, and designed to allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought into the U.S. under the age of 18 to remain with temporary legal status. It allowed for many undocumented immigrants to attend college and to legally work in the country.
“Today’s announcement is a betrayal of American values...”
Trump's recent controversial decision to end the policy is what prompted the DREAMer Club to host the rally. Along with the rally here, many rallies and walkouts were hosted around the nation as a protest to President Trump's decision.
Congresswoman Norma Torres' district representatives were also present at the rally. Earlier that Tuesday, the Congresswoman released a statement that began with, "Today's announcement is a betrayal of American values and a needless attack on thousands of hardworking young people who want nothing more that an opportunity to contribute to this country." Daniel Enz, one of her representatives, stated that the Congresswoman has introduced a piece of legislation that "no federal money can be used to deport or take any kind of action towards DACA students."
Among those supporting the DREAMers, the name given to recipients of DACA, were students and school faculty.
“Children don’t get to choose where they’re born...”
"I believe that our DREAMer students are some of our best students, and they deserve our support," said Chaffey's Faculty Success Center Facilitator, Cindy Walker, 46, "I think students who bring different perspectives, different experiences and backgrounds enrich the classroom experience for other students so they can begin to see things in different ways."
Students and supporters rallying near the marquee.
"Children don't get to choose where they're born, you know," said Estaban Castro, a 19-year-old English student at Chaffey, "They have to work hard just to get over here. Some men walk here from South America. Walk! So once they get here, I feel like we should receive them... The DREAMers here want to go after an education, want to go after a professional career. I'd say they have just as much, if not more right to be here than a citizen who is not going after a career, or not going after an education."