The Power of the Ballot. Deborah Carter-Meyers, Lenna Madden, & Barbara Wiltsey. Azusa Pacific University ILA Case Study

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1 Running Head: THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 1 The Power of the Ballot Deborah Carter-Meyers, Lenna Madden, & Barbara Wiltsey Azusa Pacific University ILA 2014 Case Study October 13, 2014

2 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 2 Introduction Immigration is possibly the most controversial concern of our nation today. The immigrants caught in the middle are those who arrived in America as minors with undocumented parents or other family members. They are referred to as Dreamers and have been raised and attending school in the United States. They now desire a college education or employment in the country they consider home. Given the complexity of their family narratives and the political and social realities of contemporary America, the Dreamers and their families are presented with three distinct options: remain undocumented and continue to navigate uncertainty, come forward and risk deportation, or pursue a path toward citizenship. The Dreamers grew up with American values, which in part include the idea of innate rights as individuals. Their goal is achieving citizenship and ensuring that their families can stay together. This can be achieved either by encouraging Congress to craft legislation that a majority will support, or by convincing the president to take executive action. The primary stakeholders are the Dreamers. They consider themselves Americans, value familial relationships, and view citizenship as their path to higher education, jobs, and a future. Their original goal was to see legislation passed that would give them permanent status as residents. Under President Obama, however, deportations increased, which resulted in families being torn apart. This led the Dreamers to modify their goal into a comprehensive package that would include an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. Today, two major activist groups, United We Dream and the Dream Act Coalition, are divided over whether the best way forward involves full access to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants or focusing on a practical legislative solution for immediate relief supporting families who would benefit from access to higher education and employment.

3 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 3 On the political side, key stakeholders include representatives from the two prominent political parties, Republicans and Democrats, as well as the president. The politicians value reelection and seek majority rule in the House and Senate. Both parties are concerned with human rights, gaining favor with the Latino population, securing the borders and curtailing the influx of additional undocumented immigrants. Additional stakeholders include the Dreamers families, industry groups, business and technology, labor unions, agricultural growers, law enforcement, churches, educators, youth groups, and the families in Central America who are seeking a better way of life and are sending their children to the United States. Decision Making and Response to the Concerns The politicians desire to represent their constituents with regard to ongoing immigration issues and border security. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was initiated as a temporary solution by President Obama through an executive action early in 2012 (Dumain, 2014). Although it offers undocumented immigrants a social security number and school or work visa, potential applicants were concerned that DACA would be appealed after the 2012 election or, worse, that they would risk deportation. After receiving their work visas many DACA applicants still had trouble getting hired. "A lot of [engineering firms] didn't want to hire a temporary worker," explains 24-year-old Arizona resident and University of Arizona graduate Jose Patino, noting that his work permit is only good for two years (Gonzalez, 2014). DACA was never designed as a path to amnesty or citizenship for the Dreamers. Several politicians and philanthropists have adopted their own version of the Dream Act. Among those opportunities that may offer hope for the Dreamers on both national and state levels are The Dream.US, a national college scholarship fund for Dreamers established by The Washington

4 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 4 Post Company (Rivera, 2014) and a state level organization, The REAL Hope Act - Realizing Educational Access; changing Lives, which offers an educational grant for undocumented residents in Washington state. In addition to tuition-based grants, there are several organizations that provide pro-bono legal assistance in immigration such as Appleseed Network and Illinoisbased Murthy Law Firm, along with World Relief Dupage, an organization comprised of churches and volunteers serving immigrants in the United States through refugee resettlement since Strategy With the Dreamers shift in strategy from initially advocating for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 15 to now advocating for all undocumented immigrants, the situation has become more complicated. Those who desire a path to citizenship, education and employment opportunities should strategize a persuasive appeal that addresses the following constituents: 1. Public The American people have general sympathy for those who were brought here as children and had no control over their circumstances. 2. Politicians President Obama could foster a favorable legacy if legislation to grant amnesty were to pass under his leadership. If the 700,000 Dreamers were granted citizenship, their backing of the politicians that supported the legislation would significantly influence the political landscape of the United States. 3. Dreamers The Dreamers are organized through national networks and media; however, they have divided. As a result, there is in-group opposition and a failure to strategically identify the value of fostering a shared vision around a common set of objectives.

5 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 5 Our current proposal focuses on first achieving a path to citizenship for the Dreamers, which would support access to federal education funding and jobs. Both of these outcomes would contribute to the needs of the Dreamers as well as the economic and social needs of contemporary America. Aside from the 500,000 plus Dreamers participating in the DACA program, it s expected that there are over a million more unauthorized immigrants under the age of 30 who could potentially qualify [for DACA] (Zamora, 2014). Many politicians join the president s concern about the individuals who fall into this category. It would make sense for these lawmakers to cooperate with the Dreamers to streamline the application process for DACA (and possibly citizenship). Lessons from the DACA initiative can also assist in moving forward with the Registered Provisional Immigrant program (RPI), a bill being considered in congress that would offer immigrants a path to earn citizenship. With this in mind, we propose that the Dream Act Coalition and United We Dream organize and recruit leaders of the various stakeholder groups including politicians, clergy, and others who are sympathetic to their dilemma to create a platform for change. This community of leaders will represent a microcosm of the entire system. Allowing each community to have a voice will ensure they avoid acting from generalizations, not losing sight of the distinct needs of the members of the cohort. Uniting these diverse groups together will provide them a shared power and a chance to influence the decision makers the voters. Leadership Implications Our goal is to empower this team of community leaders organized by the Dreamers for social action by providing them the knowledge and praxis to work collaboratively and

6 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 6 democratically through the principles of Transformational Leadership and Transformative Scenario Planning based in social system theory. Transformational Leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings (Northouse, 2013, p. 185). Transformational leadership values and encourages listening to the dreams of others. It allows for a process to be challenged, provides space for innovation, and to learn from mistakes. It also enables action and builds trust and collaboration by allowing diverse points of view to be heard and treated with dignity and respect. Teaching transformational leadership will create a foundational framework for the team to align on a clear and elevating goal, and one that can successfully navigate conflict towards negotiation and creative problem solving. Once the team is formed and grounded in transformational leadership principles, we recommend they utilize Transformative Scenario Planning as a framework for constructing scenarios to understand possible futures and to influence and plan for them through a disciplined process of thinking ahead together then altering actions as needed. Adam Kahane (2012) pursues social system theory as he describes a new way of working together to enable transformation, and provides Transformative scenario planning as a useful tool when people find themselves in a situation they see as unacceptable, unstable, or unsustainable, and they cannot transform their situation on their own or directly which describes the Dreamer s current state. Kahane (2012) explains that Transformative scenario planning addresses problematic situations slowly and from the inside out. Over the course of the five steps, the actors gradually transform their understanding, relationship, and intentions, and thereby their actions. Through this process, the

7 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 7 transformation ripples out from the individual leaders to the scenario team, the organizations and sectors they lead, and the larger social system (Loc. 475). As the team formulates actions, an applicable model of change management will also be appropriate to consider. John Kotter (2012) in his 8-Step Process for Leading Change asserts that a sense of urgency must be established for change to occur. As key contributors become committed to the Dreamers vision they will influence followers on a one-to-one level [as well as] whole organizations and even entire cultures (Kotter, 2013, p.186). This will be a long road and Dreamers should expect resistance. In order to keep the momentum, short-term wins such as DACA should be celebrated and encourage Dreamers to keep the urgency high. Success in school, work and community settings will show proof to politicians and the American public that the individuals seeking citizenship will indeed add economic and social value to America. Many Dreamers who are willing to persevere will emerge in this effort as innovative leaders for global change. Gaining knowledge in Transformational Leadership and Social System theories and learning how to continuously adapt and apply these concepts toward actionable outcomes will increase their chance of success.

8 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 8 References 10,000 Degrees (2014). Scholarship opportunities for undocumented students. Retrieved October 7, Retrieved from Abshez, E., Cavendish, B., Khan, A. M., and Schulman, S. (2014). A dream deferred: from DACA to citizenship. Retrieved October 6, Retrieved from Dumain, E. (2014). Republicans vote to end DACA after tense floor debate. Roll Call. Retrieved October 6, Retrieved from Gonzalez, D. (2013). A year later, immigrants face Dream Act's limits. USA Today. Retrieved October 5, Retrieved from Kahane, A. (2012). Transformative scenario planning: Working together to change the future. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Kotter, J.P. (2012). Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Murthy Law Firm (2012). MPI study: who are the dreamers and how many are there? Retrieved October 7, Retrieved from many-are-there. Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

9 THE POWER OF THE BALLOT 9 Preskill, S. and Brookfield, S. (2009). Learning as a way of leading: Lessons from the struggle for social justice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Rivera, C. (2014). Two Long Beach colleges will offer Dream scholarships. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, Retrieved from Roberts. M. (2010). Illegal immigration: seeking a Christian perspective. Patheos: Hosting the Conversation Faith. Retrieved October 8, Retrieved from Zamora, L. (2014). New deferred action statistics may hold key implications for future legalization. Bipartisan Policy Center. Retrieved October 5, Retrieved from

DACA: Can American Dream Come True for the DREAMers? Every year, a countless number of families and individuals immigrate to the

Kim 1 Ahram Kim The John D. Brademas Center for the Study of Congress Congressional Intern Research Paper Office of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney Summer 2012 DACA: Can American Dream Come True for the