{"id":6543,"date":"2011-04-11T15:55:42","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T19:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=6543"},"modified":"2011-06-09T14:56:39","modified_gmt":"2011-06-09T18:56:39","slug":"national-spotlight-on-emu-grad-isabel-castillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/national-spotlight-on-emu-grad-isabel-castillo\/","title":{"rendered":"National Spotlight on EMU Grad Isabel Castillo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isabel Castillo \u201907<\/strong> has become a nationally recognized spokesperson for the plight of undocumented young people in the United States.<\/p>\n

Castillo was featured in a Feb. 20, 2011, New York Times<\/strong> article, \u201cDream Act Advocate Turns Failure into Hope<\/a>.\u201d This publicity led Jesuit-run University of San Francisco to invite her to be its commencement speaker this spring and to offer her an honorary doctorate.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 24, 2011, Castillo was interviewed for Telemundo<\/strong>, the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world.<\/p>\n

Castillo first came to public attention on July 20, 2010, when she was one of 20 undocumented young people arrested in Washington DC for staging non-violent, sit-down actions at the Hart Senate Office Building to appeal for passage of the DREAM Act. (The Act was derailed when it was five votes short of advancing in the Senate.)<\/p>\n

Castillo was brought by her parents as a 6-year-old to the United States. She graduated from Turner Ashby High School near Harrisonburg, Va., with a 4.0 GPA. She graduated magna cum laude from EMU, with a major in social work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Congressional passage of the DREAM Act \u2013 the acronym stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors \u2013 would give undocumented immigrants ages 12-30 a path to legal residency. They would be able to apply for citizenship if they serve in the military or get a college education. It would take at least 10 years and perhaps as much as a 15-20 years for a person to satisfy the requirements.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 26, 2010, Castillo spoke eloquently at a town hall meeting held by Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, a Republican pushing for tougher deportation policies. In January 2011, she went to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and testified before a House of Delegates subcommittee that was considering a proposal to bar undocumented students from state-supported colleges.<\/p>\n

In October 2010, Bob Edwards of National Public Radio<\/strong> interviewed Castillo for a segment of his national show.<\/p>\n

Castillo\u2019s biggest risk is being deported and ending up alone in an unfamiliar setting in Mexico, away from her home, her family and her friends. \u201cAt first, I\u2019d only allow the media to shoot my face turned away and only my first name,\u201d she told the New York Times reporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then it just progressed. I said, O.K., use my face and you can say I went to a local university. Then it was, I graduated from Eastern Mennonite University and I’m Isabel Castillo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo paid her way through EMU by working 30 hours a week at unsalaried casual jobs, such as babysitting and waitressing, and continues to survive by working in this manner, while accepting multiple (usually unpaid) invitations to speak on the DREAM Act.<\/p>\n

A reporter for the Capital News Service<\/strong> in Richmond quoted Isabel as saying: \u201cI started doing activism because the issue affected me, but now I do it for the thousands of people like me who are scared to stand up. I have a sense of relief.”<\/p>\n

She adds, “I\u2019m not ashamed or scared. I\u2019m not a criminal. I\u2019m no longer going to hide in the shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isabel Castillo \u201907 has become a nationally recognized spokesperson for the plight of undocumented young people in the United States. Castillo was featured in a Feb. 20, 2011, New York ... read more about National Spotlight on EMU Grad Isabel Castillo<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[12196,12246],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-6543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-dream-act","tag-isabel-castillo"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Spotlight on EMU Grad Isabel Castillo - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/national-spotlight-on-emu-grad-isabel-castillo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Spotlight on EMU Grad Isabel Castillo - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Isabel Castillo \u201907 has become a nationally recognized spokesperson for the plight of undocumented young people in the United States. 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