DREAMers’ undocumented parents deserve legal status, too, activist says


October 26, 2012

CWS President and CEO John McCullough with recipients of CWS's First Annual John Backer Awards, Myrna Orozco and Tony Hernandez. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

CWS President and CEO John McCullough with recipients of CWS’s First Annual John Backer Awards, Myrna Orozco and Tony Hernandez. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

New York City – Church World Service Thursday evening (Oct. 25) honored the struggles and achievements of immigrants to the United States, giving special recognition to Myrna Orozco, an “undocumented and unafraid” immigrant advocate for the DREAM Act, and Tony Hernandez, a broadcast entrepreneur passionate about capturing immigrants’ life stories in their own words.

New York City’s Immigration Commissioner Fatima Shama was keynote speaker at the event – CWS’s first annual John Backer Awards reception. The award honors the late Mr. Backer’s 61 years of service to CWS as a staff member and volunteer. The venue: Museum of the City of New York.

Orozco and Hernandez, accepting their awards, both told emotional stories of their immigrant journeys, described how they are now creating opportunities for immigrants to speak and be heard, and urged their already sympathetic audience to press even harder for the rights of immigrants to the United States.

Orozco, 22, is a “DREAMer,” one of the estimated 1.7 million undocumented young people in the United States who were brought to this country as children. “We say we ‘came through no fault of our own,’ but so did my mom. She fled with me from Mexico to the United States after two of her sisters were murdered in Chihuahua. She’s not a criminal. She had no other options – she came trying to protect herself and me.

“That’s why a DREAMer dreams that his or her parents also can get documentation,” Orozco said, urging her audience to work for a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants of all ages. Orozco serves as National Field Director for the United We Dream Network in Kansas City, Mo.

For his part, Hernandez also came to the United States as a child. He was 5 when he and his parents, refugees from Cuba, arrived on a “Freedom Flight” in 1967. CWS helped the family resettle. He grew up in Union City, N.J., and got his start in broadcasting at WSKQ Radio in New York City.

Hernandez is Co-Founder & CEO of Latino Broadcasting Company, Miami, Fla., and leads the company’s Immigrant Archive Project, which already has captured the first-person story of hundreds of immigrants.

New York City Immigration Commissioner Fatima Shama addresses the event. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

New York City Immigration Commissioner Fatima Shama addresses the event. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

“This project is the single most gratifying work of a 30-year career,” he said. “I have met and recorded the stories of immigrants ranging from an Olympic medalist to a homeless person, from an eight-year-old to a 108-year-old. Each person’s story is not just a story, it’s a life – uprooted, struggling for survival, rebuilding.” In this way, the project helps combat ignorance and hate and show who immigrants really are by having them speak directly.

New York City Immigration Commissioner Fatima Shama opened her remarks by declaring, “Immigrants are the lifeblood of this city, the people who have built this city – not just yesterday, but today, and who will build it tomorrow.”

Shama congratulated CWS on its 66 years, saying, “You do tremendous work. Thanks for being in New York. Thanks for being a provider of service and a safety net for immigrants, both new and older arrivals.” She hailed CWS for “the role you play in receiving people in hope to live in freedom. I am excited we have partners like you. Your voices are making a difference. Your presence makes a difference.”

New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg is making a sound economic argument for comprehensive immigration reform, Shama said. His Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan group of more than 450 mayors and business leaders, has documented immigrants’ economic contributions to the United States in the report, “Open for Business.” [Read CWS Immigration and Refugee Program Director Erol’s Kekic’s blogpost on the subject.]

Shama spoke appreciatively of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provides a temporary stay of deportation for DREAMers and could benefit 50,000 to 60,000 New Yorkers and 1.7 million young people nationwide.

“But it’s not the DREAM Act,” she emphasized, urging her audience to press for that measure that would offer a path to legal status for qualified DREAMers. The DREAM Act is one piece of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s broken immigration system, she said.

Yvette Rovira offers a song. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

Yvette Rovira offers a song. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

International singer/songwriter and recording artist Yvette Rovira performed some of her musical selections at the event. She is a supporter of the agency’s hunger and poverty fighting work at home and worldwide.

CWS – www.cwsglobal.org – is a global humanitarian agency working to eradicate hunger and poverty. Founded in 1946, it supports sustainable grassroots development, helps communities respond to disasters, protects refugees and other forcibly displaced people, and promotes public policies that contribute to building a world where there is enough for all.

In its 66 years, CWS has resettled more than 500,000 refugees and 300,000 Cuban and Haitian entrants to the United States. Other U.S.-based programs offer immigration legal services in seven cities, including New York City, also giving support to a network of such services in 17 of CWS’s resettlement affiliate offices.

CWS administers the Resettlement Support Center Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya, which helps candidates for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program prepare their case files. And it works around the world to increase forcibly displaced persons’ access to essential services, protection and durable solutions