The Arizona DREAM Act Coalition Statement on the Supreme Court Ruling on SB 1070

Phoenix, Arizona The Arizona DREAM Act Coalition, an organization composed of immigrant youth and their allies, laments the Supreme Court decision which upheld section (2b) of the law that allows authorities to ask individuals their immigration status if there is a reasonable suspicion the individual is undocumented. We believe the section being upheld are conducive to racially profiling citizens, legal residents, and undocumented immigrants and therefore do not provide equal treatment under the law.We respectfully disagree about the constitutionality of the decision and we will continue to educate our community on how we can overcome the implementation of this section so the impact to the people in our state is minimized.We encourage the community to stand firm, to not panic, and to stay informed.

ADAC will continue fighting these laws the best way our organization knows:

1.-We will continue to educate the community on the importance of knowing their rights, regardless of their status. Many times the cases of detained and deported immigrant youth are due to the lack of education on how to defend their rights when facing DHS and ICE procedures. Know Your Rights education and campaigns are essential to combat unjust laws.

2.-We will continue our efforts of civic engagement in Arizona to support politicians at all levels of government with reasonable solutions. We encourage the community to manifest their dissatisfaction to this ruling in the way it really counts; by registering to vote and voting for candidates who support the DREAM Act and immigrant rights.

3.-We will initiate a campaign to report cases of racially profiled citizens, legal residents, and undocumented individuals. We will expose the evidence of devastating effects to our community and the unconstitutionality of the application of unjust laws through the mass media, social media and any other means at our disposal. We will remain vigilant for extreme interpretations of the laws by entities (educational institutions, hospitals, etc.) other than law enforcement and DHS.

4.-The community can stay informed by subscribing to our text alert system by texting the word "ADAC" to 77948. We also encourage the community to report any police mistreatment to Respect Respeto hotline 1-855-737-8673 (1-855-RESPETO).

5.-We would like to remind the community that President Obama's announcement regarding deferred action for DREAMers greatly reduces the effects of SB1070's upheld clauses on immigrant youth. However, we as a people must continue fighting for immigrant rights, as our family members, friends, and community  are still affected by this legislation.

  

"We feel relieved that al least the Supreme court ruling will have less of an impact on immigrant youth than a week ago, said Dulce Matuz", president of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition and one of the 100 most influential persons in the world by TIME magazine", but we are concerned for our mothers, fathers and older siblings who also contribute with their work and taxes to the economy in Arizona".

 "Although Immigrant youth are not subjects of deportation, we can still be racially profiled and detained by the implementation of SB1070", said Reyna Montoya, Vice-president of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition.

The Coalition is a member of United We DREAM (UWD)  Network a national organization of DREAM Act activists, and allies.  Recently the UWD collected more than 90 law professor's signatures around the country asserting the authority President Obama has to make administrative changes to immigration like the deferred action the announced on June the 15th.