UVU students arrested for peaceful protest in Hatch's office

UVU students arrested for peaceful protest in Hatch's office


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SALT LAKE CITY -- Two Utah Valley University students spent the night in jail for a demonstration in support of the federal DREAM Act.

Federal Protective Services arrested Diego Ibanez and Agustin Diaz Tuesday night because they refused to leave Sen. Orrin Hatch's office at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City. The two were praying and meditating in the office, saying they would not leave until Hatch released an official public statement supporting the DREAM Act.

"The future of the students that really want to benefit, who want to contribute to society, we should give them a pathway," Ibanez said. "They have no say, it's not their fault that they're here."

The legislation would allow children of undocumented immigrants to earn permanent residency by serving in the military or earning a college degree. The Senate plans to vote on the DREAM Act this week.

Ibanez appeared in court Wednesday on a charge of disrupting the performance of official duties by government employees.

Two other students, Breana Reichert and Jessica Zelaya, waited for a similar response from Sen. Bennett, though they left the building without being detained.

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