Thread: NY:Undocumented teens campaign for tuition legislation

Undocumented teens need college: Jax Hts. group
By Jeremy Walsh

Immigration legislation can be a daunting subject even for adults, but a group of teens tackled the issue head-on Friday, calling for city schools to be declared an "immigrant safe zone."
YouthPower!, a subset of the Jackson Heights-based low-income South Asian advocacy group Desis Rising Up and Moving, gathered young people from throughout the community to promote their message of tolerance and to kick off a postcard campaign to the state's U.S. senators regarding higher education.

The postcards are part of an effort to change the Dream Act, a piece of legislation that would offer legal immigration status to undocumented youth who either enroll in college or enlist in the military. But according to DRUM, with high tuition costs and financial aid tied to Social Security information, the only real option the bill offers the undocumented is military service.

Federal law prevents undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. However, New York, Texas, California, Utah, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas have passed state laws providing in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who have attended high school in the state for three or more years.

"How many of you think they could afford to go to college?" DRUM member Rishi Singh asked the audience. The response among the 60 or so attendees was a resounding "no."

The latest bill to include the Dream Act, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, was defeated in the Senate in June. But DRUM members believe it will return in new legislation, noting it has been evolving over five years.

Singh said the postcard campaign urges New York's two U.S. senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, to support a Dream Act that offers a community service pathway to legal status, offers initial financial aid options to undocumented students, and removes a "good moral character" clause, which he said could be used as a way to deny status based on any legal infraction.

The event also included open-mic sessions for youth to voice their opinions on immigrant safe zones in schools. Many other youth advocacy groups gave video and spoken-word presentations on the subject, complaining of intense police scrutiny and even anti-immigrant violence.

Brian Redondo, an activist with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, introduced a video chronicling the 2002 anti-Asian violence at Brooklyn's Lafayette High School, which culminated in the severe beating of the school's valedictorian.

"When things like this happen, it's important that we don't take it silently," he said.

Individuals were too shy to take the microphone themselves, but many took pens and wrote their thoughts anonymously on paper taped to the walls of the second-story Jackson Heights center, calling for the city's school system to offer "no discrimination and the opportunity to an equal education regardless of where we are from," and "the right to be treated as equals, not judged by skin color or nationality."

According to a survey DRUM conducted at 75 New York City high schools last summer, 51 percent of South Asian youth reported harassment from police or school authorities.

DRUM hopes to use the responses from the meeting as source material for a memorandum of understanding they intend to submit to various city policymakers starting next spring.

Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.

http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cf ... 1069&rfi=6

First of all, illegal aliens shouldn't even receive a free education in our country. The legal taxpaying citizens of this country are footing the bill for their education, and they don't even appreciate that. They feel we should also pay for them to receive in-state tuition. Next they'll be asking for us to provide scholarships for illegals. Enough of this crap.

Originally Posted by fedupDeb

First of all, illegal aliens shouldn't even receive a free education in our country. The legal taxpaying citizens of this country are footing the bill for their education, and they don't even appreciate that. They feel we should also pay for them to receive in-state tuition. Next they'll be asking for us to provide scholarships for illegals. Enough of this crap.

But.....since we have indeed educated millions of them it seems like a good plan would be to take that education back to their home country and begin a movement to reform their own government. Run for office, fight corruption, start up companies, bring medical and education services. Use the energy expended toward trying to change our government to change their own.

But.....since we have indeed educated millions of them it seems like a good plan would be to take that education back to their home country and begin a movement to reform their own government. Run for office, fight corruption, start up companies, bring medical and education services. Use the energy expended toward trying to change our government to change their own.

That would be too much work to bring their homeland out of the gutter when they can just bring this country down a bit. Or maybe reforming their own country is just one of those jobs invaders won't do!

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

But.....since we have indeed educated millions of them it seems like a good plan would be to take that education back to their home country and begin a movement to reform their own government. Run for office, fight corruption, start up companies, bring medical and education services. Use the energy expended toward trying to change our government to change their own.

But... that would make too much sense!