Thread: Salem College students tackle illegal immigration

Salem College students tackle illegal immigration
By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: October 31, 2011
To Keren Salim, a sophomore at Salem College, there is a similarity between young people relegated to what she sees as the second-class world of illegal immigration and black people relegated to the back of the bus during the era of segregationist Jim Crow laws.
"I might not be an undocumented immigrant, but I am an ally," Salim said. "If those students who fought for civil rights in the 1960s had decided to do nothing, then nothing would've happened."
Salim and three other undergraduate students will be holding court on the thorny issue of illegal immigration Saturday at the Central Library downtown, from 10 a.m. to noon. The event is open to the public. In particular, the students aim to raise awareness about the DREAM Act.
Sharee Fowler, an adjunct professor, teaches the class.
"There is a difference between doing the work of charity, which is very important, and doing the work of justice because you look at root causes," said Fowler, 36. "Sometimes, in our culture, where you can flip from channel to channel, there's almost habit of popping from one thing to another. I'm asking them to go deep and see beyond the rhetoric."
The students have their work cut out for them. Recent polls suggest that within the broader issue of illegal immigration, the DREAM Act and its underlying principles present some of the more complex aspects of the debate.
For example, it is not possible under current immigration law for young, DREAM-eligible immigrants to seek legal residency status. But a Fox News poll released last week, under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research LLC and Shaw & Company Research, showed that a majority of registered voters sampled support legislation that would allow them to do just that.
According to the poll, 63 percent of respondents said "yes" when asked this question: "Do you think illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States since they were children should be eligible for legal citizenship, or not?" In contrast, 31 percent of the respondents said "no," and 6 percent said "Don't know."
On the other hand, a different poll suggested that a majority is against the idea of letting such children pay in-state tuition at state colleges.
In a CBS News poll done a few weeks before the Fox News poll, 68 percent said they oppose this idea: "Do you favor or oppose allowing the children of illegal immigrants to attend state college at the lower tuition rate of state residents?" In contrast, 25 percent favor it, and 7 percent said they are unsure.
The DREAM Act, which has floundered for years in Congress, would provide a pathway to legal residency status to certain young, educated immigrants without serious criminal records. Most of them, brought illegally as young children by parents to the United States, were raised mostly in the U.S. but are not authorized to be in the country.
They cannot apply for a driver's license or a Social Security card. They constantly face the specter of deportation to countries that many do not remember. In most states, they must pay out-of-state college tuition even if they attended local elementary, middle and high schools.
The DREAM Act would open the door to these things as long as they pursue a college degree or join the military, among meeting other conditions.
To talk with people from all walks of life about the legislation, Salim said, the four Salem students formed their group as part of a grass-roots-advocacy class. They were inspired in part by a class discussion that called on students to think about how the world is and how it should be.
As part of the class project, Salim said, she and her partners have visited several places, including big-box retailers and the downtown area, to do man-on-the-street discussions, during which they've learned that some people are against the DREAM Act without knowing much about it.
In addition, they've had letters published in newspapers, including the Winston-Salem Journal.
They've visited high schools to talk with younger students, recently going to West Stokes High School in King.
For Kathryn Williams, a 20-year-old sophomore who is part of the class project, the work involved with talking about the DREAM Act and illegal immigration is something she is willing to shoulder, in part because the issue is personal.
"The DREAM Act is dear to my heart," Williams said. "I know several students who, if the DREAM Act were to pass, it would have a big effect on their lives."

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/oc ... r-1555842/

The civil rights movement was about the inequal treatment of natural born U.S. citizens, not about citizens of other countries that ignore our immigration laws to create a subculture that exists through identity theft, false documents and tax fraud. It seems that if the illegals can get their hand in your pocket, they will go to any length to keep it there.

When will the local cowardly RINOS in Winston Salem/Forsyth County NC going to stand up to the liberals.

Contact: Dale Folwell (RINO)
Forsyth County
NC House
299 S. Westview Dr., Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Phone: 336-748-0046
dale.folwell@ncleg.net

Notice how a college professor with an agenda is able to marshal students to fight for her cause.