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Undocumented And Unafraid
KPBS ^ | November 23, 2012 | Laurel Morales

Posted on 11/23/2012 11:27:35 AM PST by moonshinner_09

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — An estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. And most of them live in hiding. But now, a small group of mostly young people are opening up about their status. They admit -- and sometimes shout -- that they are undocumented and unafraid.

Often undocumented people who are interviewed choose to use fake names, like this man who spoke through a translator after a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Flagstaff four years ago.

"There was one night during the raids we didn’t have anything for dinner," he told me. "My 4- year-old daughter asked me, ‘dad where are you going? Don’t go because la migra (immigration) is out and they might get you. There’s some cereal there we can eat cereal. Just don’t go.’"

Alexandra Samarron, 24, once felt that way too. Samarron came to the U.S. with her mom when she was 16 to leave her abusive father and start a new life.

"We were really afraid," Samarron said. "I’m telling you, we were really afraid."

Something changed for Samarron last summer when she was asked to participate in a demonstration outside an immigration detention center in Los Angeles. It was the day President Barack Obama announced a two-year reprieve from deportation for young immigrants who came to the U.S. before the age of 16.

"We were sitting in the street and we were shouting, ‘I am undocumented and I am unafraid.’ And that was very empowering because just like saying it out loud helps you and it gives you power," Samarron said. "Each time I said it, it seemed that I was saying it louder. And it gives you a sense of being proud."

(Excerpt) Read more at kpbs.org ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: aliens; arizona; illegals; immigration
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21 posted on 11/23/2012 5:44:47 PM PST by HiJinx (Bring back public hangings!)
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22 posted on 11/23/2012 5:45:32 PM PST by HiJinx (Bring back public hangings!)
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23 posted on 11/23/2012 5:46:27 PM PST by HiJinx (Bring back public hangings!)
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To: moonshinner_09

They used to call such people scofflaws.


24 posted on 11/25/2012 7:36:36 AM PST by MortMan (I will be true to my principles.)
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