Two North Carolina group respresenting undocumented immigrant youth are joining forces. El Cambio is an organization of undocumented youth from across the Piedmont - and Triangle area-based North Carolina Dream Team represents other undocumented immigrant youth in the state.
Together, the groups are fighting for access to in-state college tuition. Currently, undocumented residents must pay the more costly out-of-state tuition - which, added to books, room and board, and insurance, totals almost $33,000.
El Cambio Supporter Weslyn Gough says, "I have a number of undocumented friends. We went to high school together and it is not fair they can't go to college if they want to." Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, members from both groups celebrated the release of key El Cambio organizer 24-year-old Uriel Alberto. They waved hand-drawn signs and a banner cheering him home. Last Thursday, they paid his $7,500 bond- getting him out of a Raleigh jail.
Alberto says he staged a 10-day hunger strike to force his release and to urge legal action against an injustice he and other undocumented immigrant youth face. "We want in-state tuition for undocumented students and it's time for the General Assembly do it. It's not fair to punish the children for what adults did."
Alberto's parents illegally brought him from Mexico into the United States when he was seven.
Raleigh resident Jose' Rico is undocumented and a member of NC Dream. He attends Wake Technical Community College and hopes to eventually become an engineer. "They keep saying we're a burden on the community when really we're not. We're studying and we're working," says Rico.
On February 29 in Raleigh, Rico, Alberto and others from El Cambio and the NC Dream Team protested during a meeting of the House Special Committee on Immigration. Alberto and two others were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
The day after his arrest, Alberto says he decided to refuse food. A few days later, supporters rallied outside Alberto's jail cell demanding his release. But he says this angered authorities more. "After the rally, 30 minutes later, they came and grabbed me from my cell and put me in 24-hour lockdown," says Alberto. "I went 24-hours without being able to take a shower.
In a somber voice, the young activist also described his release as bittersweet because others illegal immigrants are still behind bars. "I met fathers that were not going to be as lucky as I. It's hard to get back to your life when you know there are people not as lucky as you," he says while looking at the ground. Alberto credits his mother for encouraging him while in jail -- she finally convinced him to stop the hunger strike. Upon his release, Alberto says his first meal was his mother's chicken soup.
He still has to resolve other unrelated charges and now he says investigators with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement have started deportation proceedings against him.
