Myrna Orozco has been in what she calls hiding — avoiding the police, not doing things to attract attention to herself and keeping her secret from her friends — since she was four years old, when she moved to the United States.
Twenty-year-old Orozco’s secret is that she is undocumented.
But she’s not hiding anymore — Orozco was arrested on Tuesday, July 20, when she and 20 other DREAM Act advocates were participating in a sit-in in the various senators’ offices. Orozco and three others were in the office of Arizona Sen. John McCain (R). Five students were arrested in the office of Nevada Sen. Harry Reid (D), and 12, including Quinones, were arrested in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.
“They said they were going to arrest us if we didn’t leave,” she said. “But we were not leaving until we got Sen. McCain to push for the DREAM Act.”
The DREAM Act is short for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The bipartisan act would aim to give undocumented college students temporary legal residence in the U.S. There are currently 11 states that allow undocumented students to go to college and pursue degrees.
Kansas is one of those states. A junior at U. Kansas, Ricardo Quinones, 20 — also undocumented — was arrested on Tuesday night as well.
Orozco and the three other people who were in Sen. McCain’s office were charged with unlawful entry. They were taken by the Capitol Police Department first, then the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, and then taken to a courthouse. Orozco was one of four out of the 21 taken into custody to spend the night in jail. The other 17 students were charged with disorderly conduct.
Orozco was asked for identification, and she only had her Rockhurst University student ID. She said she told the police that she was undocumented and that it felt liberating to do so.
Orozco was not contacted further by immigration, but she hasn’t ruled out the possibility that they will pursue her case.
“I went in knowing the consequences,” she said. “My whole life, I’ve been avoiding the cops — so to do it and know they would be there was a whole new feeling.”
Quinones, in a press release on July 22, said he is tired of being told he doesn’t belong here.
“This is my home. This is my country. I believe passing the DREAM Act will show that our society doesn’t believe in criminalizing children for the decisions of their parents,” he said.
Orozco moved to the United States with a valid visa, but she doesn’t currently have one. Rockhurst University is one of the few private universities in the country that allow undocumented students to study and get a degree.
Orozco said she was proud that the DREAM Act is initiating conversation about change.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to college,” she said. “But, I know by doing what we did that night, I gave myself hope again.”
And, she said, she gave others hope.
“I will continue fighting for the DREAM Act,” she said. “I’m not in the shadows anymore.”