Mayor Nutter spoke at an immigrant rights rally at Welcome Park yesterday organized by the Pennsylvania chapter of the Reform Immigration for America campaign. The rally was intended to show that Philadelphia is a welcoming city to immigrants, in contrast to Arizona, where the anti-immigrant law SB1070 was implemented in part yesterday.

WHYY News reported that Mayor Nutter said he was excited by the decision of Judge Bolton to strike down key elements of Arizona’s immigration law.

Nutter got cheers from the assembled crowd when he said, “Immigration for some has become the new segregation in the United States, that's what’s really going on, people need to pay attention to what this is about.”

But what is really going on in Philadelphia? What is this really about?

Four immigrant youth are walking from Florida to Washington, D.C. on the Trail of Dreams to raise awareness of the DREAM Act, a bill pending in Congress that would provide a path to legal status for undocumented youth brought to the U.S. as children by their parents.

The walkers on the Florida Trail of Dreams have faced down the KKK and an anti-immigrant sheriff in Georgia, and have been welcomed all along the East Coast by immigrant communities engaged in the struggle for immigration reform.

Inspired by the walkers' courage, a group of immigrant youth from New York set out on April 10 on their own trek to Washington. The New York Trail of Dreams walkers are pushing for passage of the DREAM Act and a moratorium on deportations of all DREAM-eligible youth. They will arrive in Washington, D.C., on May 1 to meet the Florida Trail of Dreams.

Join us in welcoming the NY Trail of Dreams walkers to Philadelphia on Monday, April 19, 11:00 a.m. at University of Pennsylvania campus (details below).

While most eyes are focused on the HCR debate right now, there is another high-stakes legislative issue waiting in the wings. For those whose families and communities are impacted by the problematic immigration system, immigration reform is as crucial as anything else on the Democratic agenda.

But right now, immigrants and advocates are wondering whether immigration reform is even on the agenda of Democrats in Congress and the White House, notwithstanding Candidate Obama’s promise to make immigration reform a top priority during his first year in office.

That’s why I was happy to see the Inquirer’s editorial about the DREAM Act over the weekend.

Every year, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year. These students, after growing up in the United States and calling this country their home, are faced with unimaginable obstacles when it comes to continuing their education. Despite these obstacles, these undocumented students have decided to take matters into their own hands and fight for the opportunity to fulfill their dreams. These students are fighting for a piece of legislation called the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

Each year in the U.S., 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school with limited options for higher education or employment. Many undocumented youth were brought to this country as children, even infants, by their parents. They are indistinguishable in every way but one from their citizen friends, classmates, and siblings: they don’t have a piece of paper that says they can stay here.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) would change that. The Act would provide conditional legal status to applicants who: