DREAMer on stage tonight

DREAMer on stage tonight

by digby

Some excellent news on the DREAM front. I had heard that the DNC was not eager to feature them at the convention and wrote a rather nasty post about it, but lo and behold, this young woman is scheduled to speak tonight between 9 and 10 est:

Benita Veliz

My parents brought me to the US when I was 8 years old on a tourist visa, form Mexico. The visa expired after one week but we remained in the country. We have lived in San Antonio, TX since. I am 23 years old. My grandmother is an American citizen. I’ve never been married. I don’t have any children. I went straight from high school to college and then to work. The only family I have left in Mexico is on my mother’s side and I have only seen them once or twice in my life, as a young child.

She had been scheduled for deportation in March. I’m guessing President Obama’s executive order stopped that from happening.

Here she is:

This country needs brave people like her. If she’s not an American then neither am I.

Update: Here’s an interesting story by Elise Foley at Huffington Post about the No Papers No Fear Riders at the DNC.

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