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Seventeen days after being taken into custody at the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, the “DREAM9” have been set free.

Three of the nine, in collaboration with the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (NIYA) went to Mexico and joined with 6 others already in Mexico.

What all 9 had in common was that they were young undocumented immigrants who had come to the US as minors but were living in fear of deportation and/or were separated from their family members.

The DREAM9 spent more than 2 weeks at the notorious Eloy Detention in Arizona. There they started a hunger strike to protest lack of phone access, and connected with other immigrants in the detention center.

Meanwhile, on the outside, NIYA launched a concerted campaign demanding their release. They launched a twitter hashtag campaign called #BringThemHome, and got 34 members of Congress to sign onto a letter to President Obama about their case.

Finally, on Wednesday August 6th, all nine were released on pending asylum requests – a process that could take years to complete and which results in 98% of cases from Mexico being denied.

Still, their release represents the success of a bold strategy, underscoring the on-going need for real immigration reform.

GUEST: Lizbeth Mateo, one of the DREAM 9, and one of the 3 who went into Mexico in late July with the intent of crossing back. Mateo has been accepted into Santa Clara University School of Law.

Visit www.theniya.org for more information.