Bakersfield Californian: Immigration reform advocates say they’re undeterred

A host of Latino leaders from around Kern County urged undocumented residents not to lose hope after a Texas judge blocked the federal government from implementing programs that would have protected millions from deportation.

"We thought we were going to come here today to celebrate. This is just a temporary setback," said immigration advocate and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. "Don’t despair. We know President Obama is going to court to defend his executive action."

The federal government’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs were set to go into effect Wednesday.

But U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction against implementation of the programs late Monday, according media reports.

Juana Alcala, who came to the United States with her parents when she was 8 and has lived in the United States for 27 years, spoke about the hope that deferred action offers her.

She said she did well in school and wanted to go on to college when she finished, but she couldn’t because she was too old for the existing deferred action for children program.

"My main goal was to be a scientist or CSI member," she said, her sons Nathanial, 12, and Zahid, 8, standing beside her.

That dream has been on hold, Alcala said.

"Thanks to DACA I have the opportunity to dream again," she said.

Speakers also urged people who might be eligible for the programs not to wait, but to begin pulling together the paperwork needed to prove they meet the residency and relationship requirements of the programs.

But, warned Marichel Mejia of the United Farm Workers Foundation, people should be careful of scams aimed at those who are eligible to apply for the DACA and DAPA programs.

Only a legitimate immigration attorney or a non-profit group accredited by the Bureau of Immigration Appeals can legally advise people on how to prepare a request for deferred action, she said.

Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez called the deferred immigration programs and immigration reform a moral imperative for a nation that sends its sons and daughters overseas to fight and die to defend moral treatment of the citizens of other nations.

Morality, she said, "is not what a judge or a lawyer tells me I can do, it’s what justice, reason and humanity tell me is right to do."

Jay Tamsi, president of the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said that the people who would be able to take advantage of DACA and DAPA would provide a serious economic boost to Kern County and the state.

Other speakers said the Republican Party risks its future by ignoring the need for immigration reform for some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the nation.

"The Grand Old Party has a guest list and Latinos aren’t on the guest list," said McFarland Mayor Manuel Cantu, a Republican.

But if Republicans don’t learn to embrace Latinos, he said, "Latinos will take over the Republican Party."

Jim Young, former chancellor of the Kern Community College District, talked about the successes that undocumented students he has worked with are making — attending doctoral and law schools at UCLA and UC Berkeley.

"This is an issue of power and money," Young said, stating that Republicans don’t want Latinos "to have the opportunity to vote because they can take over Texas and Arizona."