The United We Dream Network (UWD) is a left-of-center immigration advocacy organization that opposes the deportation of illegal immigrants, advocates for the full reinstatement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) partial amnesty program, supports defunding the police and ending all enforcement actions by U.S. immigration authorities, and promotes left-of-center policy on LGBT issues. [1]
Founding and History
United We Dream claims to be the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. [2] Founded in either 2008 or 2011 and granted nonprofit status in 2014, [3] the group claims to have over 720,000 members in over 100 local chapters in 28 states. [4] Over 60% of UWD’s members are women, and 20% identify as LGBT. [5] United We Dream Action is the lobbying, advocacy, and electoral affiliate of the parent United We Dream Network. [6]
Political Advocacy
Despite increased illegal border crossings in 2021, United We Dream opposes opening any new immigrant detention centers and has advocated for all illegal immigrants who are currently detained to be released immediately. [7] UWD pushed President Joe Biden to increase refugee admittance to the United States. [8] UWD has also called for Facebook to censor viewpoints not aligned with its immigration agenda. [9]
DACA
Since its creation under former President Barack Obama, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has allowed individuals who arrived in the United States as children without legal status to remain in the country and apply for work permits provided that they meet certain requirements. [10] United We Dream has always supported DACA. [11]
The Trump administration sought to end the program in 2017, and several left-of-center organizations filed lawsuits which successfully blocked the program’s repeal temporarily. [12] [13] In July 2021, a federal judge ruled that no new DACA applications would be granted. UWD’s executive director Greisa Martinez Rosas called the judicial ruling part of the “white nationalist agenda,” and UWD called the ruling “vindictive and cruel.” [14]
Efforts to Defund Immigration Enforcement
United We Dream has called for the United States to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). [15] UWD has criticized President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal for not doing enough to dramatically defund immigration enforcement efforts led by ICE and CBP. [16]
UWD Executive director Martinez Rosas has claimed that “the police and the deportation force of ICE and CBP were born of white supremacy and anti-Blackness.” [17] Along with left-of-center and left-wing organizations including the Immigrant Action Alliance, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and the Family Action Network Movement, UWD held a protest outside the Miami, Florida ICE office demanding the immediate release of all illegal immigrant detainees. [18]
LGBT Issues
United We Dream started the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP) to advocate for individuals who are both undocumented and part of the LGBT community. [19] QUIP provides training for chapters and individuals affiliated with UWD, engages in targeted left-of-center advocacy campaigns, and builds connections with LGBT individuals to promote political organizing and advocacy initiatives. [20] QUIP has run public awareness campaigns such as “#NoMoreClosets” [21] and published reports on demographics and opinions in the LGBT-immigrant community. [22]
Publications
United We Dream produces fliers which instruct undocumented people to refuse to cooperate with U.S. immigration officials. The fliers advise illegal immigrants on what actions to take to avoid deportation if they encounter immigration officials at home, at work, or out in public. [23] UWD produces a curriculum called “UndocuPeers” for educators, students, and staff on how to work with undocumented students. [24] UWD also produces guides and toolkits on political organizing issues, such as how to create a sanctuary city, how to find financial assistance, and how to start community organizing programs. [25] Additionally, UWD produces material on how to fill out a DACA application, and individuals can apply for assistance to pay the application fee from UWD. [26]
Finances
According to United We Dream’s 2020 tax returns, UWD had $9,145,586 in revenue and $8,089,282 in expenses. [27] The previous year, UWD had $8,784,932 in revenue and $9,187,886 in expenses. [28] UWD’s three largest expenses are community organizing ($2,481,315), communications ($1,537,027), and education and services ($933,170). [29] In 2020, UWD raised $423,000 for a DACA Application Fund to cover the $495 application fee for DACA applicants. [30]
In early 2021, Google gave $250,000 to UWD to pay for additional DACA applications for 500 individuals. [31] In 2016, UWD joined a Ford Foundation cohort of 300 left-of-center organizations that received $1 billion over five years. [32] The left-of-center Proteus Fund granted $50,000 to UWD in 2017, [33] $30,000 in 2018, [34] and $15,000 in 2019 [35]
Leadership
Greisa Martinez Rosas is executive director of United We Dream. Originally from Mexico, she arrived in the United States illegally as a child. [36] Prior to being named executive director of UWD in August 2020, [37] Martinez Rosas began at UWD in 2012 as civic engagement field manager and went on to work as national field coordinator, advocacy and policy director, and deputy executive director before assuming her current role. [38] Previously, she worked as affiliate leader of the Council For Minority Student Affairs. [39] In 2018, Martinez Rosas called then-President Donald Trump’s proposal for a border wall “a white supremacist ransom note.” [40]
Cristina Jimenez Moreta is a co-founder of United We Dream, where she worked as executive director from 2008 until 2020. [41] Previously, Moreta worked as a policy analyst at the left-of-center Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. [42] Moreta was a co-founder of the New York State Youth Leadership Council and a community organizer for Make the Road New York. [43] Moreta came to the United States illegally from Ecuador at age 13 [44] and was previously a MacArthur Foundation fellow. [45]
Donation Recipients
Aside from its own advocacy work, United We Dream has funded other left-of-center immigration organizations. These include national left-of-center organizations and their local affiliates, such as the National Immigration Law Center, the Center for Community Change, the Center for Civic Policy, Public Allies, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium Inc. [46]
UWD has also funded several notable local left-of-center organizations, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Casa de Maryland, the Arizona Center for Empowerment, Make The Road New York, Alliance San Diego, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Progressive Texas Institute, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and Dream Act Oklahoma. [47]