The DREAM Act: vulnerable young people, seeking a solution

Without passage of the DREAM Act, vulnerable young people seeking a resolution to their impermanent status are in greater danger of being trafficked. Please check out this interesting new film:

RISING LATINO STAR TEAMS WITH LOCAL FILMMAKER TO PRODUCE FILM ON IMMIGRATION ; DREAMER

Fresh off his award-winning performance opposite Benjamin Bratt in La Mission, Jeremy Ray Valdez will be filming in Houston in October of 2011. The film, Dreamer, is helmed by local filmmaker, Jesse Salmeron.

Jeremy Valdez will play Jose, an undocumented college graduate who is living the American Dream until his employer discovers his immigration status, and the life he has worked so hard for begins to crumble around him. Widely considered the hottest young Latino actor in Hollywood, Valdez has remained busy the past few years with stints on primetime dramas such as 24, The Closer and NCIS. He also starred in Edward James Olmosʼ Walkout.

The title of the film, Dreamer, references the DREAM Act, a bill that would provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal and deportable alien students who graduate from U.S. high schools, who are of good moral character, arrived in the U.S. illegally as minors, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment.

The director, Jesse Salmeron, came to the U.S. undocumented at the age of three during the Salvadoran Civil War. He received refugee status and went on to attend the University of Houston and studied Creative Writing, Theatre, and Film. Salmeron has a full slate of films planned for the coming years. His film company is Undocumented Productions.

Principal photography for Dreamer will begin in Houston in October of 2011.