DREAM Act opponent Issa gets served (UPDATED)

Ariel view of Darrell Issa’s house at 1598 Parkview Drive, Vista, 92081/Google Maps

DREAM Act opponent, and the nation’s shakiest incumbent, embattled Rep. Darrell Issa (R-49th Congressional District got served in his own neighborhood by an organized protest Saturday, Dec. 2.

Protestors showed up at 1 p.m. at Luz Duran Park, 340 Townsite Drive in Vista, then deployed to post lawn signs, talk with community members, and distribute voter education materials. The rally began at 3 p.m. attracting about 300 people to the park.

Groups backing Saturday’s rally include the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and United We Dream.

“The DACA program really embodies American values,” David Trujillo, advocacy director with the local ACLU, told the crowd gathered in Luz Duran Park.

Issa lives nearby at 1598 Parkview Drive in the Shadowridge neighborhood of Vista. His residence was listed in 2012 as a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on the cul-de-sac valued at $505,000 by the real estate website Zillow.com.

“Dozens of activists are organizing to visit Congressman Darrell Issa’s neighborhood in Vista this Saturday afternoon to urge the lawmaker to support passage of a clean Dream Act before the end of the year,” Sifuentes said in a written release.

“They will be responding to his constituents’ requests for lawn signs, passing out voter education materials, and talking to local community members about the importance of this legislation,” Sifuentes said. “Later, they will be joined by Dreamers and supporters in a rally at Luz Duran Park.”

There are believed to be approximately 1,800 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, referred to as Dreamers, in California’s 49th Congressional District.

This event is part of the ACLU of California’s statewide #CAisMyHome campaign announced earlier this month. The campaign has included digital ads targeting Issa and other members of California’s GOP caucus, whose votes are critical to passage of the Dream Act. On November 9, the ACLU flew an airplane over Cal State San Marcos towing a banner that read “Rep. Issa: #CAisMyHome, pass Dream Act Now.

Unless Congress acts soon, DACA recipients will lose their status and be rendered deportable. For many DACA recipients, the Dream Act is their best hope to legalize their status and remain in the country with their families.

Earlier this month, Issa re-affirmed his opposition to the bipartisan DREAM Act because “it goes too far” and then bizarrely blamed DACA recipients’ parents by suggesting they were the “victimizers” of their children for wanting to give them a better life, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“Darrell Issa couldn’t be any more cruel and tone deaf at a moment when so many DREAMers and their families are worried sick that they will be ripped apart,” said Javier Gamboa of the DCCC. “Make no mistake: Issa’s constituents know that he stands on the wrong side of history and they will hold him accountable at the ballot box next November.”

Norma Chavez-Peterson, executive director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said: “With only a few days left on the legislative calendar this year, we appeal to our elected representatives to be fair, compassionate and timely. Before Congress adjourns to be with their families and loved ones, we urge them to vote to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrant families from being torn apart. A clean Dream Act does just that.”

On Sept. 5, the Trump Administration announced it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era initiative that provided temporary relief from deportation to about 800,000 qualifying youth and young adults, who were brought into the United States illegally as children. Unless Congress acts soon, DACA recipients will lose their status and be rendered deportable. For many DACA recipients, the Dream Act is their best hope to legalize their status and remain in the country with their families.

“The fate of more than 200,000 California Dreamers – our neighbors, our friends and our colleagues – is in the hands of Congressman Issa and his fellow GOP representatives,” Chavez-Peterson added. “There is a narrow window of opportunity, and Congress must act before it closes. We urge Congressman Issa to support the Dream Act and work to pass it immediately.”