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CURRENT ISSUE: June 19, 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 12 • Oakland, CA
Teens rally for passage of DREAM Act
More than
1,000 people from across Contra Costa County rallied in Brentwood last
month in support of the DREAM Act, a proposed piece of federal legislation
that would grant undocumented high school graduates who enroll in college
or university a temporary resident status for six years.
These students would be granted permanent residency status once they have
earned a degree from an institution of higher education, or studied for
at least two years towards a bachelor’s degree or higher, or served
at least two years in the U.S. armed forces.
The temporary resident status is necessary, say legislation advocates,
to allow the students to qualify for in-state tuition costs and to receive
financial aid that is currently forbidden for undocumented students.
In order to obtain the temporary resident status, a student has to have
arrived in the United States at least five years ago and been younger
than 16. He or she has to have remained in school and stayed out of trouble
with the law.
The DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act was
introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2003 as a stand-alone piece of legislation.
That year, the House bill (HR 1684), the Student Adjustment Act, addressed
the same issue. Both remained in a holding pattern until last November
when a bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the DREAM Act of 2005
as S. 2075.
The DREAM Act would have been on track to become law in 2006 had it passed
both houses of Congress and been signed by the president.
Instead, on May 25, the U.S. Senate approved the DREAM Act as part of
the Comprehensive Immigration Reform of 2006 —S. 2611—, effectively
tossing it into a politicized and contentious immigration debate.
The House, for its part, approved immigration reform in December that
does not address legalization of undocumented immigrants but rather focuses
on border security and workplace compliance of immigration law.
A conference committee will be named to reconcile both versions. A date
for the new debate is yet to be set.
DREAM Act advocates say that its approval will benefit 65,000 people in
the United States.
“The way things are now many students are discouraged to go to college
or to even finish high school. They think that once they graduate, they
won’t be able to work without a Social Security number or a Green
Card,” said Teresa Flores, youth organizer for the Contra Costa
Interfaith Supporting Community (CCISCO), the ecumenical organization
in charge of the march and vigil in Brentwood.
“What we are defending here is the hard work of children who are
not responsible for what their parents have done,” said Steve Pehanich,
executive director of Catholic Charities of California. “Many kids
don’t even know about their immigration status until they have to
face problems at college.”
The National Immigration Law Center, which advocates for immigrants’
rights, says that, if approved, this U.S. Senate initiative would have
a positive, life-changing impact on the students who qualify, dramatically
increasing their average future earnings.
Adversaries such as the Federation for the American Immigration Reform
(FAIR), however, claim that the bill is an amnesty disguised as an educational
proposal. The organization argues that the initiative puts American citizens
in direct competition with undocumented residents for increasingly scarce
financial aid resources.
“This giveaway is being offered at the same time that all state
universities are raising their tuition and are cutting back on educational
benefits,” said Dan Stein, the FAIR director, on the organization’s
web page.
FAIR also believes that it is unfair to provide undocumented students
with the benefit of paying in-state tuition —which is a state subsidy—
when college students who are U.S. citizens from other states have to
pay the full out-of- state fee.
California is one of just nine states that currently charges in-state
tuition to undocumented students who have been here for more than three
years and have graduated from a local high school.
However, this benefit, which translates into savings of at least $24,000
a year, is often insufficient without access to government-backed financial
aid.
A California version of the DREAM Act (SB 160) was approved by the State
Senate and is scheduled to be discussed by the Assembly Higher Education
Committee on June 20.
The proposal grants eligibility for financial aid to undocumented students
who attend any of the public universities or community colleges in California.
Without federal changes, however, undocumented students would have no
automatic right to work in the country after their graduation.
Francisco Estrada, director of public policy with the Mexican American
Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), is positive that the mostly
Democrat California legislature will approve the bill. It is unknown,
he said, whether Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign
it.
UC Davis student Gretel Quintero is one of the nearly 3,500 undocumented
students in California who would benefit. Quintero, who graduated in 2004
as the second best of her class in Stockton, is about to lose her spot
at UC Davis because she doesn’t have legal residency and needs financial
aid to help pay the in-state tuition cost of $5,400 for three classes.
“I haven’t been able to buy my books, and I can’t even
think about the money that I have to pay to keep in college,” she
said.
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Wearing his graduation cap and gown, Oscar Gonzales of Liberty High School in Brentwood speaks about the educational opportunities that the DREAM Act could provide for undocumented high school graduates. Listening is Patricia Calderon.
Greg Tarczynski photo
