Victory!

It’s official. Vinny and I have both received confirmation from our lawyers that we have been granted prosecutorial discretion. This means that DHS is finally closing our cases and we get to stay here in the United States with our families and friends. There are so many people to thank, it’s hard to even begin, but for now one big thank you to most amazing group of people I have ever met, the folks at the Student Immigrant Movement. We did it guys!

We Are Vinny and Denis, Education Not Deportation

With Vinny’s court hearing coming up our END campaign is ramping up! We have a big event coming  up on November 21st. We are going to rally in front of the JFK building (where our court hearings are held) and have a press conference afterwards.

After all this time working on our campaign, it is finally coming to an end and I can feel the excitement in the air. SIM is focusing on END and I feel very grateful to have the support of some many amazing people. This is it, It’s time to rally the troops and fight deportations!

Please come to our “We Are Vinny and Denis” event on the 21st. This could be our final action that will push DHS to grant Vinny and I prosecutorial discretion.

Time	Monday, November 21 · 10:30am - 12:30pm

Location	Boston City Hall Plaza

Welcome New Visitors!

If you are new to our blog, welcome and thanks for visiting. Recently, Vini, the END team and I have been busy spreading the word about our campaign and sharing our stories. On Saturday we held a very successful and fun fundraiser, monday we participated on a great panel on immigration at Epicospal City Mission and today we were interview by San at WAZN AM. So hopefully many of you are here to see the work we have been doing.

You can learn a lot about our campaign by liking our Facebook fan page and following our updates. Also make sure to sign our petition on our blog. We are also trying to raise money to cover campaign expenses and lawyer fees, so if you feel generous you could help Vini and I by donating to our campaign.

Also, if you would like to reach me feel free to send me a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Denis Lemos

Upcoming Fundraiser

If you want to participate and help out come to our fundraiser.

Time	Saturday, October 8 · 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Location	Lopresti Park
More Info	The Student Immigrant Movement is currently fighting to stop the deportations of Denis Lemos and Vinny Quirino, and we need to keep fighting so that DREAMers can stay here. Come to East Boston and join us for a day of soccer and lot’s of fun, AND at the same time you will be helping SIM continue doing all of this amazing work for our END campaign. The minimum suggested suggested donation is only $10. Here is a link to our Facebook event, make sure to share it with your friends.

Back in School

As the fall approaches, I find myself in a new chapter of my life. Finally, after one and a half years of waiting I am finally back in school. Early  in 2010, when I had to make the difficult decision and give my education a break, I didn’t think I would be able to finish my education in this country. I was very disappointed that I had to leave UMASS Lowell and I knew for sure that wouldn’t be going back. It’s almost hard to believe but here I am, it certainly feels very familiar to be back. Many of friends have already graduated or are almost done, but it’s ok. I remember the first day of class, I was probably the only student walking around with a huge smile on my face for no apparent reason. People around me might have thought I was weird or something. But they don’t know how hard it is for some of us, so they don’t understand. And most of them don’t fully appreciate the fact that they live in the country with the best higher education system in the world. It is such a privilege to be here and I do appreciate it very much. But I know it’s not going to be easy. On top of the academic challenges, I will certainly run out of money very soon.  I don’t even know for sure what the outcome of this campaign will be. But I am satisfied because I know I am doing all I can and I am back where I belong.

After fighting to stop my deportation college doesn’t even seem as intimidating as it once did. It feels so familiar and I feel I have it down to a science; Take notes, read the textbook and do the homework. Do the homework as well as you can and study everyday as if there is test the next day. Never skip something because you don’t understand it. Talk to the professors and show them that you want to learn. It’s all so satisfying. I feel so much like myself when I am spending much of my day learning. I was born for this, and I want to keep doing this for a very long time. I love being in college and being a student. My future is still uncertain but I have learned to relax and enjoy the life I have. I can’t keep stressing out about all of these problems I am facing, and I can’t keep waiting to be happy until I have my green card. I have done that for too long and I am tired, this is my life and I am going to live it.

Brazilian Immigrant Center

Hello folks!!!
Sorry I havent posted a blog entry in a while. Part due to being busy and part too relaxed. But situation is that Denis and me are still in removing procedures and gathering community support.
The Brazilian Immigrant Center has been an organization of huge support to us. We first saw that in the beginning of the year when SIM was invited to be present at a fancy fundraiser they were having. We managed to get legal and political contacts as well as had the chance to go up front and speak to all the guests about our struggle.
They also participated in all of our rallies and are great people. Denis and me got to the center at noon and managed to speak briefly with Natalicia Tracy and Gilvan da Silva since they had matters to attend to. Although was great meeting them since they are the fighting faces I usually see backing us up or fighting for other great causes.
Besides being there to gather signatures, we went there to know what does the BIC do and I sincerely got astonished with their great work! Its known that Massachusetts has the biggest Brazilian population outside Brazil. Many of the individuals here came from Brazil without knowing much of the language and have their own struggles to communicate or even to know their basic rights. So the BIC assists from making phone calls in English for people who dont quite speak it to providing lawyers for cases of abuse. There is more info in their website: http://www.braziliancenter.org/index.html.
Thanks again Brazilian Immigrant Center and its workers for your great support and hardwork and I’ll make sure whatever we can do to retribute the favor, so just ask away and Denis and me will make it happen.

Forging an Ironclad Alliance With The Brazilian Church Community

Lily, Lai Wa, Alan and Melissa drove all the way from Boston to help me gather support from the Brazilian Church Community in Holliston. We went there to tell them about our END campaign. This campaign focuses on preventing the deportation of many undocumented immigrants, including myself.

There was a time when I thought the Brazilian Community would not want to help me with this. I just thought they wouldn’t care for some reason. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was very wrong; this is the third time I have gone to a church in order to spread the word about our END campaign and every time I feel great afterwards. The church community is so great. The amount of support I receive from it is unbelievable. At first, many of the people are hesitant to talk about immigration issues, but after I open up to them they all look at me differently. I can see in their eyes that they trust me once I tell them my story. They see that I am one of them and they immediately see the need to work together and stop this injustice. In fact, many of them know a family that has been separated or somebody incarcerated due to minor civil offenses.

I met a family who has lived in this country for about 8 years, they have an American citizen child and a DREAM Act eligible one, and yet they all face deportation. ICE came to their house and put them all on removal proceedings, including the kids!

Another lady I met today told me that she and one of her friends have also faced removal proceedings. But they got letters of support from the community and they were able to stay. This one lady is an American citizen now and she was very supportive. She said she would pray for me.

It is such a nice thing to know that people care and they want to help however they can.

I also had a great time chatting with the priests from the Allston, and Cambridge communities. They were very friendly and they offered to have Vinny and I come to their churches and share our stories. I guess we are going to be doing a lot of work with the Brazilian Catholic Community and I couldn’t be happier. After such a long time away from church it’s nice to be with a religious community again. My grandmother will be so happy about this when I call her this week.

​
​

Tags: Brazilian, END, Holliston