Protecting these young Americans

Three cheers for President Obama for standing up for what’s right: using his executive power to stop the deportation of young Americans who happened to have been brought to the United States at an early age by their undocumented parents, most of them Mexican. This is the executive version of the Dream Act.

And three cheers too for “The Dream Lives,” The Seattle Times’ main editorial on June 16 [Opinion], praising President Obama’s action and interpreting it for Northwest readers.

Please notice that I used “young Americans” in the first paragraph above. Yes, these youngsters who arrived on American soil when they were children are young Americans. A person’s national identification stems not only from a legal document that proclaims it so, but also by the cultural bubble that nurtured that individual.

When average Americans proclaim their American-hood, for whatever reason, they usually do so on the basis of the way they dress, what kind of car or SUV they possess, what they eat, what kind of music they listen to, what kind of books they read or don’t read and how they think and give value to the things and people that matter most to them. These are the ingredients that make up that cultural bubble I mention above.

The average American proclaims “I’m an American,” and he or she hardly ever thinks about a legal document to back up the assertion.

Most if not all of the young Latinos who would have been swept out of the country, had the Republicans been in the White House, possess the American cultural bubble that defines them in their real, personal, everyday lives.

They are ready and anxious to give their all for their country the — U.S. — and Obama was 100 percent correct in giving them a chance to acquire the legal document that would simply confirm who they already are: Americans.

Let’s welcome them because we need them.

— Carlos B. Gil, Kenmore