Orange County Immigrant Youth United (OCIYU) is a undocumented immigrant youth-led organization based in Santa Ana, CA. OCIYU has been crucial in the fight to end the city’s contract with immigrations and customs enforcement (ICE) & decrease the number of people held in the detention facility, with the plan to eventually close it down. OCIYU works to highlight abuses faced by detainees, particularly transwomen, and worked to provide resources for them, advocate to have them released into the community and house and provide for them after release. In the current debate about DACA and DREAMers classifying certain young people as deserving and hard working while framing their parents as criminals, OCIYU honors everyone, including the hard work of people who brought DREAMers to this country. OCIYU doesn’t sell out older people who crossed the border, those who might have committed crimes or future immigrants to secure something for the young and able.
