Prerna Lal

Prerna Lal delivering a keynote address at a graduation in Washington D.C., 2012

Prerna Lal (born 14 December 1984) is an Indo-Fijian citizen of the Fiji Islands who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lal is a founder of DreamActivist, an online advocacy network led by undocumented youth. Through the use of social media, Lal has been credited for organising an online network to stop the deportations of undocumented youth^[1] and she is well known in the DREAM Act movement.^[2] In 2013, she married her same-sex US citizen partner at the National DREAM graduation to celebrate the US Supreme Court decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.^[3] Lal is a frequent writer on immigration, racial justice, sexual orientation, and how these forces intersect. She is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School, licensed to practice as an attorney by the District of Columbia, and works as an Immigration Attorney at the University of California, Berkeley. ^[4]

Early life and education

Prerna Lal was born on 14 December 1984 in Lautoka, Fiji. Growing up, Lal attended Nehru Memorial Primary School and St. Joseph's Secondary School in Suva, Fiji. When the government of Fiji was overthrown in a militant coup in 2000, Lal's family decided to emigrate to the United States.^[5] The Lal family applied for lawful permanent resident status through Lal's US citizen grandmother but that process took over a decade and in the meanwhile, Lal was left to live as an undocumented immigrant status in the United States.^[6] Lal attended Hayward High School in Hayward, California and graduated from the class of 2002. Because Lal was an undocumented student, she did not qualify for federal financial aid or loans to attend colleges of her choice. Her family established a cleaning business and Lal worked long hours to attend Chabot College, a community college, near her home.^[7] In 2005, Lal obtained a Bachelor of Arts in political science from California State University, East Bay. Having no career options as an undocumented immigrant, she continued her schooling at San Francisco State University where she obtained a Masters in International Relations.^[8]

Career

Lal became active in the DREAM Act movement in 2008 and 2009,^[9] as a founder and Communications Director of DreamActivist^[10] and served on the Steering Committee of United We DREAM. She was among one of the first undocumented students to share her story publicly and speak openly about her immigration status in the media. Through the use of social media, Lal helped build DreamActivist and United We DREAM into a nationwide network of undocumented youth who organised to push for the DREAM Act and worked to stop deportations.^[11] By combining story-telling, legal advocacy, lobbying and social media as organising tactics, Lal effectively helped to stop the deportations of dozens of undocumented immigrants. While the DREAM Act failed to pass the Senate in 2010, Lal's organisation continued to push for executive action to stop the deportations of undocumented youth, and was rewarded when President Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012.

Despite her status as undocumented, Lal matriculated at George Washington University Law School in the fall of 2010,^[12] She worked at several D.C. area law firms, and received merit and need-based scholarships from both the school and immigration advocacy organisations to fund her education. Lal graduated from law school in 2013 becoming the first undocumented law graduate from the George Washington University Law School. At a special awards ceremony, she received the Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Accomplishment Award in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for her immigration and LGBT work. She was also licensed and sworn into the bar of the District of Columbia while she was undocumented.

Lal is a noted writer and social media architect who has received various accolades for her immigrant rights and LGBT activism.^[2] In 2011, the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), honoured Lal with a Changemaker Award on the 10th anniversary of 9–11, for her leadership role in the undocumented youth movement.^[13] In 2013, Fusion listed her as among the "Top 20 Immigration Experts to Follow on Twitter"^[14] while Colorlines showcased her in "Here's 15 Smart Women of Color on Twitter."^[15] She also served as a board director of Immigration Equality, an organisation focusing on policy, advocacy and direct legal services for LGBT immigrants.^[16] She is now on the board of Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

Lal also started her own law practice, and primarily represented clients with family, civil rights and immigration law issues. Later, she worked as a staff attorney at Advancing Justice | AAJC, in Washington D.C., focusing on immigration enforcement matters. In 2015, Lal joined the UC Berkeley Undocumented Student Program project as an Immigration Attorney, in partnership with the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC).

Removal proceedings

Lal was placed in deportation proceedings in 2011 after the USCIS deemed that she had aged-out of a green-card application filed on her behalf by her US citizen grandmother and lawful permanent resident mother.^[12] Despite the setback, Lal fought her removal proceedings, contending that the Child Status Protection Act allowed her to keep her place in line and adjust her status to that of a green-card holder, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in her favour.^[17] After a groundswell of public pressure and outcry from the same network of supporters that Lal had helped to create, the Department of Homeland Security offered to drop proceedings. Lal later married her US citizen partner, Lindsay Schubiner, in a public ceremony that garnered some media attention as a marriage that united two movements: LGBT and immigration.^[18][19] She is now a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

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