Thread: Immigrant Students Want In-state Tuition, Legal Status

Immigrant Students Want In-state Tuition, Legal Status
Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2007 :: infoZine Staff
By Jess Davis - Patricia Oliveira, 22, moved to Boston from Brazil when she was 6.

Washington, D.C. - infoZine - She graduated from high school with honors four years ago and is taking one class, her first, at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston.

She stops talking because she has started to cry.

"My friends all have degrees, and I'm still stuck in senior year, trying to get into college," she said.

Oliveira gave the valedictorian speech at a mock graduation for immigrant students at a Capitol Hill church Monday. Many of them face challenges getting into and paying for college, and others who now have degrees can't find work because of their illegal status.

Oliveira said she and many other students "were not born in this country, but know no other place as home."

So they want to become citizens under the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act - DREAM. It has been introduced in the House and Senate every year since 2003.

The bill would repeal a 1996 law that is supposed to stop states from giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants and would gradually allow the students to become citizens. Students would have to prove they moved to the United States before they turned 16 and lived here for five consecutive years, have graduated from an American high school or the equivalent and have no criminal record.

After six years, during which time they could get in-state tuition and work legally, they could apply for a green card if they had finished at least two years of college.

Census data from 2000 show 9.6 percent of immigrants from Latin America older than 25 have at least a bachelor's degree. For other immigrant groups, college degrees are much more common. By region, the percentage of immigrants who have at least a bachelor's degree is: Oceania, 28.6 percent; Europe, 29.2 percent; North America, 33.3 percent; Africa, 42.8 percent; and Asia, 43.1 percent. In the United States, 24.4 percent of those older than 25 have at least a bachelor's degree.

The DREAM Act has gotten continued support from several representatives and senators, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who wrote the current Senate bill.

"The DREAM Act is not an amnesty," Durbin said in a speech on the Senate floor in 2004. "It is narrowly tailored to assist only a select group of young people who earn legal status. It is unfair to punish these students for the mistakes of their parents."

Maria V. Lopez, 38, of Cape Coral, Fla., said she wants her four children to have a better life than she and her husband. Lopez works at a restaurant, and her husband is a dental technician. They do not have legal residency.

Her oldest daughter is 19 and taking two classes at Edison College in Southwest Florida - all the family can afford, because out-of-state tuition is four times the in-state price.

"We want our kids to study, and we want a better future for them," said Lopez, who moved here from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 12 years ago.

Dan Stein, president of FAIR, the Federation of American Immigrant Reform, says parents should have realized the problems their children would have.

He said immigrants have the right to go to college in their own countries and shouldn't demand in-state tuition in the United States.

He said for every immigrant who is admitted to a public school or gets a federal scholarship, a legal resident loses that spot, and it's not fair.

"They don't have a right to be in the country. Period."

Cinthya M. Selia disagrees. The 23-year-old graduated Sunday from the University of California at Los Angeles with a degree in English literature after moving to California seven years ago not knowing a single word of English.

"This is my country," said Selia, originally from Sinaloa, Mexico. "I am American. I learned the history, I know the language, I adapted to the culture, I contributed to the economy. In what way am I not American?"

Private scholarships helped Selia, who graduated third in her high school class, pay her UCLA tuition because she wasn't eligible for federal or state financial aid. Now that she has a degree, she can't legally work.

"The DREAM Act would benefit people like me that have human capital and are prepared to contribute to the economy but are being denied access because there's no path to legal citizenship," Selia said.

Immigrant students from many Latin American countries were represented at the ceremony, but so were students from Austria and Korea.

Mary Ha, 18, moved to Chicago from Seoul, South Korea, when she was 12.

She applied to many schools outside the state to see if she would be accepted.

When the schools checked on her legal status, she withdrew her applications. An Illinois law makes any student who graduates from an Illinois high school eligible for in-state tuition. Seven other states have similar laws, and 16 more state legislatures have debated the issue.

"It makes me sad to think my sisters are going to have to go through this," Ha said.

Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association had no problem getting the audience to repeat his message loud and clear. As he finished his speech, he walked through the crowd as they chanted: "Si se puede!" Yes, we can.

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op ... sid/23646/

"The DREAM Act is not an amnesty," Durbin said in a speech on the Senate floor in 2004. "It is narrowly tailored to assist only a select group of young people who earn legal status. It is unfair to punish these students for the mistakes of their parents."

THIS IS ABOUT WHAT WE HAVE TO DO TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY. LETTING THEM STAY AND RECEIVE LEGAL STATUS, ONLY ENCOURAGES MORE TO DO IT. WE HAVE GOT TO DEPORT EVERYONE WHO IS HERE ILLEGALLY. LET THEM APPLY FOR LEGAL STATUS IN THEIR COUNTRY. OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY HAS TO BE WHAT IS GOOD FOR OUR COUNTRY AND THE CITIZENS OF AMERICA

THIS IS ABOUT WHAT WE HAVE TO DO TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY. LETTING THEM STAY AND RECEIVE LEGAL STATUS, ONLY ENCOURAGES MORE TO DO IT. WE HAVE GOT TO DEPORT EVERYONE WHO IS HERE ILLEGALLY. LET THEM APPLY FOR LEGAL STATUS IN THEIR COUNTRY. OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY HAS TO BE WHAT IS GOOD FOR OUR COUNTRY AND THE CITIZENS OF AMERICA

I give a hearty second to your motion. Let them expend all this energy on trying to reform the laws in THEIR motherland. As deficient as they are, ours have worked for more than 200 years - when there is a good faith effort to enforce them.