'DREAMers' Chide Hagan's Immigration Record | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Adult children of illegal immigrants say incumbent is 'no friend of immigrants'

    DURHAM     Expressing disappointment at Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's record on immigration, about two dozen young immigrants who entered the country when their families crossed the border illegally and their supporters gathered Thursday beneath a billboard on Hillsborough Road critical of the senator who is facing re-election in November.

    "Empezo con las licencias voto en contra de DACA. ¿Que sera despues? La senadora Hagan no es amiga de los inmigrantes," the billboard reads.

    English translation: "It started with taking away licenses and voting against DACA. What will be next? Sen. Hagan is no friend of immigrants."

    DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which President Obama initiated to allow federal agencies to use prosecutorial discretion and not deport adult children of illegal immigrant parents. The action resulted in the state of North Carolina allowing the adult children to receive driver's licenses.

    The billboard is one of two located in the Triangle, said Viridiana Martinez, co-founder of the NC DREAM Team, which is pushing for Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which would provide those adult children a path to legal status in the United States and eventually a path to U.S. citizenship. The second billboard is on Wilmington Street in Raleigh.

    Martinez said the two billboards cost $1,600. Families and supporters pitched in from $1 to $50 to help pay for them, she said. They went up Tuesday and are scheduled to remain up through Nov. 4, election day.

    "We're not saying vote for [GOP challenger Thom] Tillis; we're saying don't vote for Hagan," Martinez said. "She's as anti-immigrant as they come."

    Libertarian Sean Haugh is also on the Nov. 4 ballot.

    Hagan's campaign did not respond to a request for a reaction to the billboards.

    Most of the adult children of illegal immigrants told stories regarding their personal situations, many saying they would have to drive their families around because they had driver's licenses while family members didn't. They said they were upset at Hagan for not helping out.

    Some spoke in English. Others in Spanish.