Doing the right thing for Walter Lara

This week was mixed with excitement and worry.

On the one hand, Walter Lara received very good news from DHS, postponing his deportation for another year. It was even more exciting because at the time the news came, it almost coincided with another Independence Day for this great nation. It was very motivating to hear Walter's statements of hope for the passage of the DREAM Act. Undoubtedly, the immigration movement is the civil rights movement our this early century. I also want to commend the great efforts put forth by SWER and other advocacy groups who joined forces to move people and got the attention and support of senators' Bill Nelson (D) and Mel Martinez (R) of Florida, both DREAM Act supporters.

The other news is rather anxiety provoking. I read this article, "Immigrants fighting hard to stay in the U.S." on msnbc.com and then I tried joining the conversation on newsvine . The article at least is an attempt to inform about the struggles undocumented immigrants are having, because we do not qualify for government assistance or benefits, such as unemployment. One sentence was enough to spark the nativist about this piece. The statement, made by a featured person read, "Us illegals, we don't have unemployment." Again, the statement merely tried to convey the fact that undocumented immigrants really have to work hard to support their needs.
However, I noticed that a vast amount of people were making such hateful and extreme remarks about undocumented immigrants. I worry that it is this kind of ethnic paranoia that fuels xenophobia and racism which eventually is believed by bigots and the uneducated lot. I'm afraid that this also leads to such acts like that murder of nine year old Brisenia and her father as they slept in their home in Arizona, or Luis Ramirez's murder in front of his girlfriend, in Pennsylvania.

Let's hope that our president takes notice of this and something is done to tame nativist and xenophobics, who will look at immigrants as scapegoats blaming the economic crisis.

Let's continue educating people on our great economic and cultural contributions to this society.