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o you have something on your just as it is for hundreds of thousands
to-do list today that has been
of others. The Dream Act is his only
on your to-do list for days,
immediate hope to remain legally in
weeks, nearly two decades? Today,
the United States.
The Dream Act, in various
Helal’s most poignant
forms, has been in front of
words of how there is nothing
our government leaders in
temporary about the roots
D.C. for nearly two decades.
he has set in America are, “I
As a country, we are out of
know for a fact that I will not
time to take action to secure
get deported without a fight.
the future of hundreds of
I know TPS was temporary,
thousands minors and
but the life I’ve built is per-
young adults in the United
manent.”
States. With the termination Genia Gazman
Would you not say the
of the Deferred Action for
same if everything you have
Childhood Arrivals Program
known was to be ripped out
(“DACA”) and the looming
from under you? Helal is
expiration of Temporary
fighting through advocacy
Protected Status (“TPS”) for current
and peaceful resistance, the funda-
recipients, countless people will soon mental principles of positive change
be stripped of legal means of exis-
in the United States.
tence in the United States.
You can make a difference. And I
I came to the United States at age
urge you to do so. Call your represen-
9. The only thing that differentiates
tatives. Call them whether you think
me from the young people fighting for they support the Dream Act or not.
their right to exist in the United States Tell them why you support the Dream
is that I had the might of the Jewish
Act. Talk about why welcoming and
community fighting for my freedom
protecting new Americans is the foun-
and legitimacy. Today, I am a U.S.
dational fabric of the United States.
citizen and grateful to the community
Share your own immigration story.
that welcomed and lifted my family in You absolutely have one. Share the
this great democracy. I am asking you
story why safety and refuge has been
to raise your voices today for people of critical to the Jewish people and the
all faiths and stand up for the young
consequences of the times they were
people for whom the Dream Act is the denied. Talk about your values and
only means of living in the light of the
our values. We have voices. And we
United States. The vulnerable cannot
must raise our voices now to affirm
fight alone. Please use your privilege
that we stand on the side of human
to welcome and lift others.
rights and freedom and diversity with
I met Helal Alshalali through his
a fervent passion for justice and dig-
activism with Michigan United to
nity for all.
raise support for the Dream Act.
Two decades is two decades too
Helal was born in Yemen and sought
long to act. Clean Dream Act Now. •
safety in the United States with his
Genia Gazman is a member of the inaugural
mother when he was just 11 years
old. Today, Helal is 17 and is a benefi- class of Michigan United’s Women’s Leadership
ciary of TPS. However, his legal status Program.
in the United States is running out,
continued from page 8
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Hamas, Hezbollah, Turkey and the
jihadi universe.
Israel’s capital has been and will
always be in Jerusalem. Israel’s
capital is not and never has been
Tel Aviv. The diplomatic world is
sometimes a bizarro world. We are
a strong country. So is the United
States. I applaud President Trump’s
willingness to rectify the U.S. posi-
tion on the Jerusalem issue.
But we don’t need the United
States’ validation. We don’t need
anyone to tell us where our capital
is, and no one can. And I don’t want
Americans to say that because of
Israel, American lives are in dan-
ger. It is nice to think that this fear
of bad people doing bad things in
response should not prevent states
from doing the right thing. But in an
imperfect world, it often does.
I admit — I am conflicted. And I
shouldn’t be. •
Joshua Krasna is a Robert A. Fox Fellow in the
Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Program
on the Middle East. This is an excerpt from
his op-ed at fpri.org.
For more on this issue, see page 12.