All year, Cesar Vargas and his DREAM Action Coalition have been warning Washington not to take them for granted. And when President Obama didn’t listen, they brought it to his front door. This is a community that voted for Obama because they were energized by his talk about the American Dream and comprehensive immigration reform. When he did not honor that pledge, they felt neglected and betrayed. They began doing guerilla-style activism, including a White House hunger strike and heckling members of Congress.
Undeterred, Vargas and his group continued to put pressure on the President to fulfill his promise to fix the nation’s immigration system. Thursday night when President Obama announced his executive action, Vargas was at the SEIU in Manhattan to watch with his friends and family — including his mom who brought him to America from Mexico when he was five years old. As they relished the moment, Vargas was proud of the role he played in pushing for change.
Alexandra Pelosi