Hundreds rally on behalf of 'Dreamers' at Rutgers campuses

Frustrated by Congress' failure to pass legislation giving legal status to undocumented immigrants who came the the United States as children, hundreds of people gathered Monday on Rutgers University's campuses in Newark and New Brunswick to rally on their behalf.

More than 200 people chanted in English and Spanish outside the Paul Robeson Campus Center on Monday morning, and hoisted placards supporting the "Dreamers," the name given to undocumented immigrants who arrived as children and live in the country illegally.

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Speakers denounced President Donald Trump’s decision to end a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that has granted protection from deportation to nearly 800,000 Dreamers since President Barack Obama created it in 2012. Currently there are more than 17,600 DACA recipients in New Jersey, according to the latest figures published by U.S. Citizenship and ImmigratiServices.

The Trump administration announced in September it would begin to wind down the program on March 5, a deadline that this protest and others like it across New Jersey and around the country were scheduled to highlight.

Organizers also staged protests outside Rep. Leonard Lance’s office in Westfield and Rep. Chris Smith’s office in Hamilton.

Spokesperson Dory Devlin wrote in a statement that Rutgers University was one of the first higher education institutions to support Dreamers.

“President Barchi and Governor Murphy’s administration are united in their desire to make permanent the protections offered under DACA,” the statement read.

A pair of federal judges have issued injunctions blocking the administration from phasing out the program and ordering it to process renewal applications. However, no new applications are being accepted, including from those who meet the program's criteria and reach the minimum age of 15.

“We have been fighting for this legislation for more than a decade,” said Johanna Calle, director of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, a coalition of 40 organizations fighting for the rights of immigrants. “While Congress decides what they are going to do in Washington, D.C., we will continue to fight for what we can get here in New Jersey.”

Several Dreamers addressed the Newark rally, saying they wanted a permanent solution not only for themselves but also for their parents, who have not benefited from DACA.

Alexis Torres Machado, 22, of Newark was born in Uruguay and came to the United States when he was 5 and has lived most of his life in New Jersey. Torres Machado, who is studying theater and video production at Rutgers, said he has tried to find a way to adjust his legal status, but current immigration laws don't allow him to apply for legal residency.

"This is my country, this is our country,'' he said to the crowd. "We have been protected by recent court decisions, but imagine living your life court date to court date, having no idea what your future holds. Politicians need to stop playing games with our lives, with our futures, and with our families."

Cinthia Osorio of Dover, a DACA recipient and a community organizer for the Wind of the Spirit, an organization in Morristown that is lobbying for legislation to help undocumented immigrants stay in the country, said legislation should include Dreamers whose parents sacrificed so much to give their children a better future.

"I can't live without my mom — she was the original dreamer,'' she said.

Demonstrators also criticized the Trump administration's increased enforcement of immigration laws.

“Not one more dollar to the Trump administration's deportation machine,” said Esder Chong, a DACA recipient who was born in South Korea and grew up in Highland Park.

Kevin Brown, New Jersey director of the Service Employees International Union, which represents around 12,000 workers in the state, said his members would register their frustration at the polls if legislation is not passed.

“The Republicans created this crisis to divide us,” Brown said. “Come November, Americans will remember.”

More than an hour after the rally began, participants began a more than 1-mile walk to the Peter W. Rodino federal building on Broad Street, where the regional offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are located.

In New Brunswick, more than 100 more gathered on Brower Commons with signs and chanting “Trump, Trump shame on you” before marching down College Avenue toward the Douglass Residential College campus.

“March 5 does not define us,” said Daniela Velez, 23, director of undocuJersey and a Rutgers University student.

Her family left Venezuela when she was 9 years old during the communist Hugo Chavez regime. She said having DACA enabled her and her sister to obtain work authorization.

“This administration doesn’t define us,” she said. “What they’re saying about us, about the ‘s—-hole’ countries, about Mexicans being rapists, that’s not true.”

Carimer Andujar, a chemical engineering student at Rutgers University, shared the pain of almost being deported this time last year.

“I’m here in front of all of you today to not only fight for the only home I’ve ever known, but to also fight for my humanity,” said Andujar, a DACA recipient who was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Passaic.

Amol Sinha, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey, said the Constitution should apply to everyone in the country.

“Either we’re all Americans or none of us are,” he said.

An hour into the rally, protesters marched down College Avenue and George Street to Rutgers’ Douglass Residential College campus.

Several ‘Dreamers’ led the crowd, including Osorio and Erika Martinez, 18, of Elizabeth. She never had DACA status and said she worries what Congress’ failure to pass a fix will mean for her life after graduation.

“Will I be able to pay for my education? Will I be able to help my family while I’m away at college?” asked Martinez, a member of Make her Road New Jersey. “That’s my concern right now, and I don’t know what’s going to happen in a few weeks.”