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ImmigrationProf Blog
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One DREAMer’s Deportation is Stayed

By immigrationprof

This is good news for one person, however, the exercise of favorable prosecutorial discretion in low-priority deportation cases has been disappointingly inconsistent:

From Change.org:

VICTORY! STUDENT WINS DEPORTATION STAY AS CALIFORNIA DREAM ACT BECOMES LAW
Student’s deportation canceled after more than 25,000 people join two popular petition campaigns on Change.org and Governor Jerry Brown signs California DREAM Act into law

LOS ANGELES, CA – The deportation of undocumented student Ricardo Muniz has been canceled after more than 25,000 people signed two petitions on Change.org.

The news comes just as Governor Jerry Brown signed the California DREAM Act, AB 131, which allows undocumented students in California who meet the requirements for in-state tuition access to public financial aid to fund their higher education pursuits. More than 10,000 people joined a popular campaign launched by the California Dream Network, a project of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, calling on the governor to sign the bill into law.

Justino Mora, a leader in the network, launched the campaign on Change.org shortly before Ricardo Muniz, a 22-year-old student who was brought to the country when he was 7 years old, was placed in deportation proceedings.

“When I learned about Ricardo’s situation I was outraged because no student pursuing his or her dreams should go through such an awful, stressful, and emotionally deteriorating experience,” says Mora. “These experiences and victories have made us stronger and proved that when we fight together for social and economic justice we are a force to be reckoned with.”

Within hours of the campaign’s launch, the California Dream Network had recruited hundreds of supporters on Change.org, the world’s fastest growing platform for social change. An additional petition for Muniz, signed by more than 14,600 people, contributed to the eventual cancellation of the student’s deportation.

“The attention and success these two California Dream Network campaigns have received is quite impressive,” said Jackie Mahendra, Change.org’s director of organizing for immigrant rights. “In the end, the two campaigns attracted more than 26,000 supporters and ended in victories for the students. Change.org is about enabling anyone, anywhere, to start and win campaigns for social change, and it’s been exciting to watch such a strong community build around these petitions.”

Mora said the passage of the full California DREAM Act will help reduce the expected shortage of one million bachelor’s degree holders for the workforce in California by 2025.

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