LatinaLista — When the students, who are dubbed DREAMers, because of their undocumented status, revealed their citizenship status in the hopes of convincing members of Congress to pass the DREAM Act, many of us wondered what would happen to these students if the DREAM Act didn’t pass.
Would they be deported? Would they be allowed to resume their lives with their families? Would they go underground?
Needless to say, Homeland Security knows there would be widespread protests and marches if any of these students were suddenly picked up and put into deportation proceedings.
Fresno State Student President Pedro Ramirez
The administration knows just how quickly the Latino community would come to the defense of these young people. Unfortunately, there’s no interference that can be run for these students who become the targets of “mean” peers.
Take the case of Fresno State Student President Pedro Ramirez. Ramirez revealed his undocumented status during the final months of the fight for the DREAM Act, but not by choice. It was an anonymous email that outed him and forced him to make his status public.
Now, it seems one of his peers is making Ramirez’s status a public spectacle.
Fresno State student Neil O’Brien, who claims his parents legally immigrated to the United States from Argentina, created the website “The Real Pedro.” On the site, O’Brien makes several declarations about Ramirez claiming that Ramirez has committed crimes due to his undocumented status.
The local newspaper, The Fresno Bee, basically refuted each one of O’Brien’s accusations but a visit to the site reveals a very disturbing picture.
O’Brien addresses visitors to his site as fellow Patriots. He refers to the college campus as being in a “State of Siege” and has a thumbnail picture that reads “Welcome to CSU Fresno — The Sanctuary College.” He’s soliciting donations to fund what he terms as an ongoing investigation of Pedro.
Overall, the site resembles something to be expected from a white supremacy or hate group rather than a “citizen’s advocate” as O’Brien likes to refer to himself.
It’s obvious that O’Brien feels he’s exercising free speech but because this site targets one individual and, according to the Fresno Bee, is posting things that have been proven to be untrue, this site seems more like a student bullying another.
And in this day and age, bullying is far more offensive than undocumented college student presidents.
