Dreamers cycle down west coast to fight U.S. immigration policy

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A journey to justice - that's what a group of young immigration activists are calling their cycling trip down the West Coast.

The group, named the Dream Riders, started cycling south from Seattle 20 days ago and just arrived in San Francisco. They have 16 more days and 800 more miles of cycling to go, until they reach San Diego, their final destination.

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"There's so much emotion just going up hill. I keep asking myself why am I doing this? Why am I going through all this pain," questioned Hana, a young woman who did not want to share her last name for security purposes.

Hana says her family immigrated to the U.S. from Korea when she was a child. She's now a college student riding to raise awareness that all immigrant communities deserve equal opportunity. "I just keep reminding myself, I'm doing this for my community. But I wish I could have done more training before this!"

"I'm Mexican-American, I've seen my family targeted, but I also know there are other groups that are vulnerable to deportation," said Allyson Duarte who is from the Texas border town of McAllen, where many of the ICE detention centers are located. She's a DACA recipient and immigration activist. "The point of this campaign, is we wanted to emphasize the need for citizenship for everybody."

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Duarte feels the current American immigration system values some immigrant groups more than others, "So to really address the problem, I wouldn't want my community to be pitted against other communities because were just going to be fighting and never address the larger problem, which is systemic."

The Dream Riders met with students to discuss immigration issues at UC Berkeley Monday night. The group is sleeping wherever someone is opening a door... church floors, community centers and on Monday night, an artist co-op in San Francisco. On Tuesday morning, the group will continue on their Journey to Justice down the Embarcadero, then take a ferry to the East Bay, where they will keeping cycling to Davis and Sacramento.

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