UTPA students to go on hunger strike in support of DREAM Act

HARLINGEN, Nov. 20 - University of Texas-Pan American students supporting the DREAM Act plan to go on a hunger strike beginning Monday until U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn declare support for the bill.

“While everybody else will be celebrating Thanksgiving we are going to join in solidarity for those who were not fortunate enough to have been born in the United States; for those who are trapped in a legal limbo right now and cannot enjoy the fullness of Thanksgiving,” said Jose Alexandro Garrido, UTPA Dreamer and member of the Coalition for Educational Opportunity Dream Act Project.

Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio have been in a hunger strike for over a week and more strikes are expected to spread across universities in Texas by students in support of the DREAM Act; a bill that if passed will grant conditional residency to undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as minors, if they attend college or serve in the military.

The decision of UTPA students to go on hunger strike was announced Friday after Garrido and nine other students from UTPA, South Texas College and the University of Texas at Brownsville and Southmost College met in Harlingen to speak with the Rio Grande Valley district directors for Sens. Hutchison and Cornyn.

click link to read whole article on the Rio Grande Guardian website