DREAM Act failure causes IU students to strike

As a cry of awareness for the national DREAM Act, three students of the DREAM IU advocacy organization have gone on a hunger strike, refusing food for two weeks.

The act, an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, if passed will allow undocumented aliens the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they complete two years of military service or two years of college.

Sophomore Omar Gama, who is one of three students participating in the strike,  has been without food for about a week and said he was inspired by college students in Texas.

“They started it because they wanted to talk to their representative because she was against the DREAM Act,” he said. “A lot of the states then started joining in to support Texas.”

At IU, Omar Gama is joined by his brother, sophomore Erick Gama, and junior Minelle Amezquita, who have another week left in their two- week strike.  

“DREAM IU started last year in February,” Amezquita said. “We support the DREAM Act, education and the rights for undocumented students. Our goal so far is supporting the act and raising awareness.”

The act, which has received support and opposition on both sides, has not passed at
this point.

The students of DREAM IU said they hope to raise awareness of the act with their strike, but they’re not only refusing food, they are also interviewing with several local media outlets as well as distributing pamphlets to get the word out.

“We have an interview with WIUX,” Omar Gama said. “We are going to events and letting people know what we are doing. We are passing out pamphlets to let people know to call their representatives.”  

Several campuses across Indiana are also working to spread the word. Amezquita said IU-Purdue University Indianapolis students have interviewed on several
radio stations.

The three students in Bloomington have also been asked to go to Indianapolis to interview for Univision, a Spanish TV station that broadcasts nationally.

“Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity found out about us. They support us nationwide,” Omar Gama said. “They told us to write a letter to the national historian so that they can distribute it to the other chapters nationally letting them know about us.”

And while the group is small here at IU, the national support system is much larger.
“We keep in touch with other campuses in Indiana. Friends in IUPUI, Ball State, Purdue, Notre Dame. It’s around 30 of us doing it in Indiana,” Amezquita said.

The strike has been a challenge for the students at IU both mentally and physically.  

The students are only drinking tea, juice and water, and they are also taking vitamins.

“I’m tired and drained. Everybody is feeling differently. I’ve been feeling nauseous,” Amezquita said.  

With finals week approaching and the weather getting colder, the Bloomington strikers will only continue for one more week.

“We are stopping on Sunday the 12th at 5:30,” Omar Gama said. “Other people in Indianapolis are going past lame-duck season. It’s when the congressmen switch from the old to the new ones.”

For Omar Gama, the cause is what’s important.

“We want other people, the less fortunate, to be able to graduate and walk across the stage and fulfill their dreams.”