On Monday August 23rd we got the text message, “Ivan is out”, to anyone else these three words sound normal, meaningless even, but not to all the members of One Michigan. To us it meant there is hope, for Ivan and his family, for the DREAM Act.
For the past two weeks One Michigan had been fighting nonstop to help a young man from Russian stay in the United States, stay home. We came to know more and more about his life and his struggle. His campaign transformed itself from making a small two minute phone call to helping one of our own. And as we met Ivan’s fiancée and her mom we became more dedicated to this fight and his case hit closer to home. We, as One Michigan, took it upon ourselves to help Ivan stay with his fiancee and his family. We went to local schools and put up fliers, approached random strangers and asked them to call and ask to stop his deportation; we worked for two weeks to see him free. We attended rallies and stood outside the Dearborn Police Station with his friends and family.
And finally on Friday 20th it paid off when the news that he would be released the upcoming Monday. We hugged, we cried, we rejoiced. We met Ivan the day he was released; he was greeted with cheers and smiles as he walked into our weekly One Michigan meetings.
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