As some of you may have read, Professor John Yoo recently wrote a piece challenging President Obama's recently created deferred action program. While as a constitutional scholar that would gladly debate Yoo at any place of his choosing, I doubt that he will defend his stance in such a setting. I am nevertheless confident when I write that Yoo has a basic misunderstanding of separation of powers when he takes a stance guided more by politics than by law and history.
More importantly, I add this post to provide a brief counter-narrative from a friend and young student activist. Not unlike the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, it is now young people that are leading an effort to change the hearts and minds of Americans concerning the equity of the claims of the undocumented. Their voice is one we rarely acknowledge in our academic venues. Here is what Gaby Pacheco, a leader of SWER and United We Dream, wrote today:
"Three years ago, the student group fighting for the rights of the undocumented, SWER, had a rally/press conference at the FIU Law school claiming that despite Congress' failure to pass the DREAM Act, we had hope for the future. Then three years later at the SAME LOCATION, SWER would partner with the FIU College of Law, FLIC, DAD, AIJ, and others to host the first and most extensive Deferred Action Clinics in the country ( thus far helping over 1,000 families).
This makes my eyes water. SWER has come a long way. And I am very proud of the work that SWER and folks in FL have been doing. Thank you to MDC and FIU for always supporting our efforts.
I KNOW OUR WORK WIll CONTINUE…BECAUSE WE HAVE 140,000 DREAMers in FL who WE WILL NOT LEAVE BEHIND!
GP"
Peace,
ER