IMMIGRATION

President Obama has issued an executive order putting a stop on the deportation of young (below 30-years old) undocumented immigrants who have lived here for more than five years and have attended school without criminal records.  For several years a group of young Dreamers has organized a campaign to ask President Obama to act on his election campaign promises to reform immigration laws and to allow undocumented youth to stay and be able to gradually serve this country and establish legal residency.

Almost all of these minors were brought to the U.S. by their parents as young children without any fault on their own, some when they were as young as 4 days. They were then subjected to all the deficiencies that this society put on them, such as lack of access to medical care, higher education, jobs, not even driving license or Id cards in many states.  Some with extreme talents and intelligence have been denied the opportunities that they deserved.  Some right-wing politicians are willing to sacrifice these young innocent people to punish their parents.  In many cases the latter were forced to migrate because of the devastation that US policies have inflicted on their home countries.
 
The fact that the majority of these folks are from south of the US border should not distract us from the reality that many Iranian youth can also benefit from this presidential decree.  In fact I want to introduce to you one of the main leaders of this movement known as Dream Activists , he is a 26 years old Iranian-born man, Mohammad "Mo" Abdollahi.  He is my Iranian of the day for what he has accomplished through a pure love and dedication to his ideals and to serving his young brother and sisters who were in the same boat as him in danger of deportation.  

Mo was born in Iran and brought here at age 3, grew up in Michigan, and has never been back to Iran.  Initially his parents were on student visa but later failed in filing for their legal residency for technical reasons. Consequently Mohammad became undocumented, even after his parents got residency through his sister who was born in the US.  For the past few years Mo has worked on this campaign day and night, from state to state, organizing the movement.  

One day he was arrested in John McCain’s office in Arizona, the next day sitting in Obama’s campaign office in Detroit Michigan on hunger strike.  The following video shows him coaching other dreamers through an act of civil disobedience in Portland, OR.  Mohammad Abdollahi is a true selfless leader and today should be his DAY!  Congratulations Mohammad, We are proud of you, job well done, Sir!