Thread: TN-Immigrant students call on Rep. Cooper's help

Immigrant students call on Rep. Cooper's help
Marchers want aid for undocumented students
By Chris Echegaray
December 18, 2009

Comments (25)

Immigrants and their advocates marched to Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper's Church Street office on Thursday, seeking his backing of legislation that would allow undocumented students to go to college and receive financial aid.

They carried a small Christmas tree and small signs calling for the passage of the DREAM Act, but the legislation is locked in committee, and the health-care debate has sucked the air out of other issues.

The 40 demonstrators, including documented and undocumented students, asked for a legal, affordable way the latter can enroll in and attend college.

"They don't have access to affordable education," said 19-year-old Cynthia Padilla. "I'm here to support them and help them out."

Padilla, an Overton High School graduate, is in her sophomore year at Lipscomb University, which accepts undocumented students and helps them with financial aid.

DREAM stands for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. Its requirements include a five-year or longer residency in the U.S. and arriving in the country at age 15 or younger.

Nationally, it's estimated 65,000 undocumented high school students graduate from high school each year. In Tennessee, it's about 1,000 students, said Eli Feghali, spokesman for the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Some students give up altogether and drop out, Fegahli said. That, he said, boosts the rate of high school dropouts.

Feghali said the group is trying to get Cooper's support to build momentum statewide. Local activists were galvanized by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat, who signed on to support the bill last month.

Cooper, however, hasn't signed on as a supporter or detractor. He's open to looking at the bill but hasn't been focused on it, said spokesman Peter Boogaard in Washington.

"There is a real lack of movement (on the DREAM Act) so far in the Capital," he said.

The lack of movement affects the talented students who have limited options after high school, said Nashville teacher Molly Sehring.

Sehring's students at McMurray Middle School are predominantly from non-English-speaking households. With Metro's highly diverse enrollment, it should be easy for people to rally around good students who want a successful future, she said.

"It's easy to sympathize with them," Sehring said. "It's not their fault."
Contact Chris Echegaray at cechegaray@tennessean.com.


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091 ... per+s+help

It is never enough for the illegal aliens. They have not only received a free public school education (their parents probably did not contribute their fair share of taxes as they are "in the shadows"), but now they believe it is their "right" for a higher education, and as usual, citizens will pick up the tab.
How will they be able to pay back these loans since they are not allowed to work here?

You have to say "NO" at SOME freakin point. Next they will be demanding southwest states to be shifted to Mexican control...or is that about 3 or 4 demands down the line behind the demand for FREE HEALTHCARE? Pffft

NO....You received a good education, paid for by the U S people. We arent footing the bill any more for the rest of the world.

I couldn't believe anyone would try to use this argument:

Some students give up altogether and drop out, Fegahli said. That, he said, boosts the rate of high school dropouts.

Statistics prove most IAs are illiterate not only in English but even in their native languages. The statistics also show that the majority of the children of IAs (excluding Asians) brought here and born here fail to graduate HS. So the "boost" he mentions would be minimal.

NO DREAM ACT NO AMNESTY!!