Today on campus: 'A Broken Immigration System and its Talented Undocumented Youth'
[ Editor's note: Because of a last-minute delay of his train, Jorge-Alonso Chehade will not be able to appear at this event today. ]
Today's immigration debates have brought to the fore conflicting visions within the United States over how to address a population of 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants. However, contemporary debates have yet to catch up to the current realities and complexities of immigrant families, and thus do not account, for the most part, for a growing population of undocumented children in the United States.
DREAM Act Candidate and founder of “DREAMERS for POSITIVE CHANGE” Jorge-Alonso Chehade will share his story from noon to 1:20 p.m. today, Jan. 13, in the
Chehade, 22, is a 2009 graduate of the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He is originally from Peru. In 1998, his father's human resources business failed, and after three years of fighting against age discrimination in employment, a corrupt business environment and an stagnated economy that resulted from the century’s strongest "El Niño" weather phenomenon, global financial turmoil, political instability, a stalled privatization program, increased government intervention in markets and worsening terms of trade, his family had to move to the United States on 2001.
Alonso was scheduled to report with ICE on Jan. 5 for what could be a potential deportation from the United States. He doesn’t have a way to apply for permanent residency or legal status in the United States under our current laws despite that he entered the country under aged, has a clean criminal record and got a bachelor's degree from a prestigious University. He qualifies for the DREAM Act, a legislation based on earned legalization currently co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, which is why her staff is currently and still discussing the possibility on introducing a private bill on Alonso’s behalf to stop his deportation.