A group of eight young people went to Mexico and then tried to return to the United States. In of itself this would be nothing news worthy. However, these eight were what are called “DREAMers”—undocumented children brought to the United States at a very young age who have no legal status here. This was of course not their fault, and even the U.S. government has acknowledged this. For those high performing academic undocumented young people who graduate from high school and want to go to college, U.S. President Barack Obama had issued an executive order that such students be given a chance to go on to college and also receive temporary work permits so they can stay in this country. Called the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA), this allows those who qualify to be able to stay in the United States until a larger solution is found for them and all undocumented.

  At this point, immigration reform is pretty much stalled, and everything and everyone who is not legally in this country are in legal limbo. Those who qualify for DACA are overall safe……unless of course they try to leave this country. This is what these young people did. They left this country, and then tried to return in a protest at how U.S. immigration works, and a protest about their own legal status. Although they were brought to this country without their consent, and the DACA is not a real solution to their plight, leaving the country to make a protest statement in my view was a truly bad tactic. Under current immigration law, they had left the United States “voluntarily” and without proper documentation they cannot return. So any attempt at returning means that they are trying to enter the United States illegally and means they can be arrested and then deported.

    I know that these young people wanted to make a statement about their plight, and I know that sometimes young people can be impulsive, but I would if I were them seriously have consulted with a lawyer before they did something like this. Doing this only legally complicates their situation, and it means that they may indeed be excluded from the United States for no less than ten years. Even the best lawyers may not be able to untangle them from the very laws that these young people are protesting against. All I can say is for any young people who may be trying something in protest against current immigration laws, or anything they perceive as wrong in particular, I recommend that you think carefully about what you do, plan out what you will do, and know what the laws are. If you are not sure, consult a lawyer. It may save all of you thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and save you all even more trouble from the very laws you may be protesting. For no matter how good your cause may be, try also to play it safe.