Young Immigrants’ Group Gains Visibility With Confrontational Tactics

In January, when Erika Andiola’s mother and brother were arrested by immigration authorities in Phoenix, she wondered what she could do to prevent their deportation to their native Mexico.

Fearing that she might never see the two again once they crossed the border, she did what very few immigrants in her position do: She went public.

Within hours of the arrests, Ms. Andiola, 25, had expressed her grief on Facebook, made a teary video for YouTube, and asked young activists to put pressure on immigration officials on behalf of her family.

Nonprofit groups such as Presente.org and United We Dream, where Ms. Andiola once served on the board, posted online petitions to aid her relatives garnering more than 20,000 signatures.

The attention, Ms. Andiola believes, led to the release of her mother and brother.

Her story stands as an example of a bold new brand of activism driven by younger people who came to the United States as children but never received citizenship, and of “the power of organizing and getting the community involved,” Ms. Andiola says.

Newfound Visibility

The so-called Dreamers movement, made up mostly of people younger than 30, represents nearly one million immigrants. At the center of the movement’s energetic advocacy is United We Dream, a coalition of grass-roots groups that has sought to develop a nationwide presence.

Now with 52 affiliates in 25 states, the group gained steam when Congress held hearings on the Dream Act, a bill that failed to pass in 2010. The act would have created a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who graduate from college or serve honorably in the military.

United We Dream and other groups have advocated for statewide versions of the Dream Act—primarily ones that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates. (Currently, 15 states have enacted such laws.)

Thus far, the group lacks status as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, but its fiscal sponsor, the National Immigration Law Center, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for it from the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and Unbound Philanthropy.

Because of its newfound visibility and the pending immigration bill in Congress, United We Dream plans to maintain a $1-million budget in 2013, up from $600,000 last year.

The group’s rising profile—earned partly by its confrontational tactics during demonstrations—is a result of its youth, energy, and anger, say its leaders.

“We’re the first and largest national group run by undocumented youth,” says Lorella Praeli, 24, the group’s director of advocacy and policy. “We believe that people leading the effort for reform should look like the people who will be affected by it.”

Those people are finally speaking up for themselves instead of hiding from authorities, she adds.

“We’re trying to shift the narrative, and that involves us telling our own stories,” Ms. Praeli says. “We’ve done a lot of actions to let people know that even though many of us have been deported, we’re not criminals, and they have nothing to fear from us. We believe in the value of subtle acts of civil disobedience.”

Civil Disobedience

However, it has been bold and strategic acts of civil disobedience that have helped United We Dream and similar groups make rapid strides on behalf of their cause.

The movement notched a major advocacy victory last June, when President Obama signed an executive order temporarily banning the deportations of so-called Dreamers.

To put pressure on the president to follow through on campaign promises he made in 2008, activists protested the increasing numbers of immigrants his administration had deported (which reached an all-time high of 400,000 in 2011) by conducting sit-ins at several of Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign offices and camping out in the halls of Congress.

Ms. Andiola, who lives in Mesa, Ariz., was among the beneficiaries of the June executive order.

She obtained a permit that allows her to work in the States for the two-year grace period the order provides for people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. She currently serves as an aide to U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat.

Taking Risks

United We Dream’s brashness has won it admiration from grant makers.

“They’re very brave,” says Geri Mannion, director of the U.S. Democracy Program at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a major supporter of programs to help immigrants. “Dreamers have put themselves and their families at risk. They know how to organize and have invigorated the reform community.”

Although United We Dream wants an immigration-law overhaul, it is especially concerned about keeping immigrant families intact and offering an American future to young people who already talk, behave, and see themselves as Americans.

More than 16 million people with legal immigration status live in families that include at least one person who is here illegally. Such families are constantly threatened by the prospect of being broken up.

Making people understand the plight of immigrant families is only the first step in helping young immigrants achieve their goals, say members of United We Dream.

“Reform has to happen in the hearts of the American people as well,” says Greisa Martinez, a 24-year-old United We Dream activist in Dallas.

“To win all that we need to win, we need to show everyone that we are like them,” she says. “It’s our responsibility to show how reform ties in with everyone’s view of humanity. Tearing families apart isn’t part of anyone’s value system.”