LAREDO — Wearing their graduation caps and gowns, 30 young immigrant activists tried to enter the United States on Monday at an international bridge here, an act of protest against policies they say keep them from the country they consider home.

The activists, calling themselves DREAMers in reference to failed legislation that would have provided legal status for some young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, had all been deported or had voluntarily returned to their home countries, organizers said.

Ages 13 to 33, they were joined by two parents of activists who at the last minute decided to take part in the demonstration and a woman from Honduras who hasn’t been able to enter the U.S. even though her 4-year-old child was born here. Accompanied by an immigration attorney, they asked for humanitarian parole and asylum.

Late Monday, all the protesters except the Honduran woman and her baby were transferred to a detention center for processing. The woman from Honduras and her child were released in Laredo. The activists were supported by several dozen protesters, some of whom marched across the bridge with them and later gathered on the Laredo side of the downtown pedestrian bridge to Mexico holding signs and chanting.

“The message here is it’s time to unite families,” said Alicia Torres, a San Antonio organizer with the Texas Undocumented Youth Alliance, who was on hand to take part in the protest.

Organizers also want to draw attention to what they said are excessive deportations by the Obama administration. The demonstration also brings attention to the stalled immigration reform effort in Congress.

The Senate passed a bill this summer that would have offered a path to citizenship to most of the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

But the bill lingers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where many of the opponents deride the measure as amnesty.

“We believe the first step for reform should start at stopping the deportations,” said Claudia Muñoz, an organizer with the National Immigrant Youth Alliance

Last year, after the so-called DREAM Act failed, the Obama administration said it would defer deportations for immigrants who were brought here illegally as children if they met certain conditions. Those whose applications are accepted are granted two-year reprieves and can qualify to work legally in the U.S.

More than 400,000 deferrals have been granted under the program.

The 30 activists came from 12 states, and most were originally from Mexico. One was from Peru.

Dallas construction worker Jose Pacheco said his 21-year-old son Marco was among those who were being processed Monday afternoon by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Marco came to the U.S. when he was 12, but a year ago went to stay with his grandparents in Mexico’s Querétaro state, Jose Pacheco said.

“He finished his school and he didn’t have any papers and he returned to study more,” Jose Pacheco said. “He wants to be a doctor.”

After a year of being separated from his family, Jose Pacheco said, Marco wants to come home.

Muñoz said the activists found their lives in danger upon moving back to Mexico.

“When they go back, they’re associated with the United States,” she said. “They’re associated with money, and they’re easy targets for the cartel. They’re easy targets for gangs that want to extort them.”

The tactics being used here are similar to another protest in Arizona this summer by the so-called “DREAM 9,” in which three young immigrants crossed into Mexico and joined six others who had been living in Mexico and tried to re-enter the U.S. They were eventually given court dates and released on bail.

A CBP spokesperson said privacy laws prevent the agency from commenting on the cases of any of the people who requested asylum Monday.

Immigrants who have been deported are not eligible for asylum, said San Antonio immigration attorney Juan Gonzalez. There are similar options, but those require a higher burden of proof, he said.

“You have to prove to a greater certainty that you will be harmed in your home country,” Gonzalez said.

The activists will have to show they’re being persecuted because of their race, nationality, religion, political views or membership in a particular social group, San Antonio immigration attorney Joe DeMott said.

“I guess it may be a good way to make a dramatic presentation that the immigration system doesn’t work, that too many people are falling through the cracks and we need reform,” DeMott said.

On the other hand, he said, if the activists’ asylum requests are granted, it could show that there’s already a way for them to legally enter the country, undermining the point of their protest.

jbuch@express-news.net