A Vote That Will Live in Infamy

As I watched many young undocumented immigrants crying on television Saturday, I tried to put myself in their place. But I just couldn't. How could I possibly feel the impotence and frustration they must have felt as the U.S. Senate rejected their pleas for equality? Unless it is happening to us, how can we truly understand how it feels to be young and told that we have no future?

I was very lucky to be able to come to this country legally (from Cuba at the age of 11 in 1962) when my parents decided they wanted a better life for me. From the moment I arrived, when I set goals for myself in my new life as an American, I felt I had an equal opportunity to realize my dreams.

Yet the young Latino immigrants who were crying on television were never given those opportunities. They came here as kids because their parents also wanted better lives for them. Just like me, they did not make the decision to come to the United States. They were not asked whether they wanted to come here; they were told! Nevertheless, they grew up here, just as I did, dreaming American dreams.

Yet because they were brought here illegally, although we all recognize that it was through no fault of their own, we choose to punish them by denying them a path to U.S. citizenship.

I, who was lucky enough to be able to become a citizen, try to put myself in their shoes, to feel their frustrating futility, because I easily could have been one of them. Had my family been denied visas to come here as political refugees, knowing how much my parents wanted to free me from communism, I know we would have found a way to come here illegally.

So to me and to many other Latinos who are also voting Americans, this is very personal. When the Senate rejected the DREAM Act — and denied legalization even to undocumented immigrants who arrived here as children — I felt ashamed. Many of us felt ashamed for the country we love.

Our lawmakers cast a vote that will live in infamy! Because we have a Senate that would vote this way — against young people pleading for an opportunity to attend college or serve in the military — we all should be ashamed of ourselves.

Choosing to condemn these young immigrants to lives of inequality, to living as second-class citizens in a country they love and want to serve, is much more than uncompassionate; it's downright cruel! We should be embarrassed for tolerating it.

What makes this tragedy even harder to accept is the fact that the DREAM Act — formally known as the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act — was defeated by a minority.

Sometimes our democracy is hard to understand. Although public opinion polls say the majority of Americans are much more compassionate than the race-baiting politicians who rallied against the DREAM Act, although the bill passed the House by a 216-198 vote and although 55 senators voted for it and only 41 voted against it, because 60 votes were needed to move the bill forward, the dreams of thousands of young immigrants were cruelly thwarted.

Of course, with the new Republican majority in the House and greater GOP influence in the Senate, for undocumented immigrants, things are likely to get worse next year. With all the conservative newcomers who have peddled xenophobia to get elected to Congress, instead of a DREAM Act, we can expect nightmare legislation.

Chances of Congress' passing pro-immigrant legislation in the next two years are very low under the new wave of xenophobia expected to hit Washington when tea party extremists take office. Instead of gaining ground, pro-immigrant activists would be lucky to stop conservative efforts to take this country back to a time when civil rights were readily violated.

But what should these young Latino activists do to keep fighting the good fight for undocumented immigrants in this country? Do they keep insisting on immigration reform legislation they know will be rejected, especially by the new Congress, or do they start a political movement to target and replace the politicians — Republicans and Democrats — who are clearly their enemies?

The vote on the DREAM Act — during a lame-duck session when its chances were favorable — proved to be very telling. Although the vote was mostly along party lines, with Republicans mostly against it and Democrats mostly for it, there were some notable exceptions. Of the 55 senators who voted for it, only three were Republicans: Bob Bennett of Utah, Dick Lugar of Indiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. All 55 deserve our support and gratitude.

Of the 41 who voted against it, five were Democrats: Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. One other Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, missed the vote because he had to go to a Christmas party. Amazing!

The DREAM Act was only the light version of the immigration reform this country really needs, a litmus test to determine just how much compassion our lawmakers have for these young people who are pleading — often in graduation caps and gowns — to be accepted as Americans.

But for Latinos, who overwhelmingly support the DREAM Act and consider this issue very personal, this also was a litmus test to determine which politicians are our "amigos" and which are our "enemigos."

All who failed to vote for the DREAM Act were, in effect, casting a very definite vote against the Hispanic community. They all deserve to be the targets of a massive national Latino campaign to ridicule them now and replace them as soon as they seek re-election.

Just like the conservatives who have targeted President Barack Obama and some Democrats for complete alienation, pro-immigrant Americans must target their enemies, and the DREAM Act has given us a good list.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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