Longmont activist groups and community leaders, documented and otherwise, Latino and otherwise, gather in response to the Sessions announcement. Longmont’s city motto is “You Belong in Longmont.”

Immediate Response to Sessions DACA Decision

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On Tuesday, September 5, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the sunset of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) plan. Sessions wore a gleeful expression as he made the announcement.

According to Politico, fewer than 15% of voters agree that the Dreamers, as DACA registrees are known, should be deported, and 58% say they should be allowed to become citizens.

In Colorado, on Tuesday, Denver students from middle school to college walked out of class and marched to the CU Auraria Campus to rally. Another group gathered and marched in Five Points. Many student groups were escorted by school officials expressing solidarity with the protest.

Longmont held a rally at its Civic Center Tuesday evening. Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs and Council Member Polly Christensen spoke to the press in support of persons at risk of deportation who live in Longmont, but the most stirring testimonials came from the Dreamers themselves and the local activists who support them.

An estimated 17,000 Americans risk deportation in the next 6 months as their DACA certificates expire.

About Face?

This is not Cory Gardner. Gardner’s been hiding, so we don’t have a photo of him. This is our other Senator, Michael Bennet, who is easier to find.

On August 8 in Yuma Colorado, home of Senator Cory Gardner, a High School Club called Las Estrellas hijacked their usual appearance in the parade that opened the Yuma County Fair and made it into a DACA demonstration. Both Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner were present for the parade. Bennet stood with the Dreamers of Las Estrellas as they spoke. Gardner rode in the closed glass cab of a giant tractor, and did not acknowledge the existence of the Dreamers.

On September 5, Gardner announced that he would co-sponsor, with Bennet, the latest resurrection of the DREAM Act, a bill that would protect the DACA registrees from deportation and give them a path to citizenship, and not too steep a path at that. Has Cory had an epiphany, or does he just sense the direction of the wind?

Take a bow, Estrellas. You are Stars!

Originally published in The Weathervane No 16 on September 7, 2017. [Subscribe]

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Win The Fourth
WinTheFourthColorado

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