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10-21-2008, 03:56 PM #1
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(Sob) Local students help others reach education dreams
Local students help others reach education dreams
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
Willow Glen Resident
Article Launched: 10/21/2008 12:10:22 PM PDT
Cesar Juarez rides the bus to school like so many college students — head against the glass, earphones streaming down his olive jacket, eyes straight ahead.
The 22-year-old was a full-time student until this semester, when he and his family discovered they were facing possible foreclosure on their San Jose home. That reality has left him a part-time student this semester, but the situation doesn't dampen his spirits.
Juarez keeps a positive outlook because he focuses every day on being a student and helping others realize their educational dreams.
"Education and studying is essential," he says, "but you have to practice what you preach."
Juarez is working toward a degree in social science, hoping he might work as a teacher when he's finished.
During the day, Juarez attends his 100W writing class and takes in his history courses. Outside of class, Juarez keeps his iPhone glued to his side, organizing rallies, helping raise scholarship money for others and coordinating outreach to high school students as the community liaison for the Student Advocates for Higher Education at San Jose State University. He is also one of two representatives for the Northern California region of the California DREAM Network, a statewide network of 12 college campus organizations that address the issues of students like himself, who are in the United States illegally.
Juarez is among a growing number of students in California coming of
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age and struggling with the knowledge that they are undocumented.
He and his family first came to the United States in 1993, when his mother fled her abusive marriage.
"Back home, we had a car, house and she had a stable job, but the cops said there was nothing they could to do help," he says.
So the family applied and received tourist visas and arrived in San Jose.
Juarez went to Meyer Elementary School near Reed-Hillview Airport, then Ocala Middle School, where he mastered English, and then moved on to Mt. Pleasant High School.
It was when he was in high school that Juarez was forced to face his reality — the same realities thousands of teenagers are facing today.
"Kids like me don't go on to college because of the lack of money or because of the thought, `Why [bother] if you can't exercise your degree afterward?' "
And because of beaurocratic backlogs, these students are also left in limbo while they wait an average of 15 years (up to 25 years if from the Philipines) for their initial interview to begin the legalization process.
The thought, however, was a fleeting one for him.
"Reading makes you think," he says. "It compels you to work for the people, serve the people and change the law. Millions of people want immigration reform. So do we, but the next generation doesn't have to fight the same fight. We have to change the law and be active participants."
It was while attending high school that Juarez listened to a speech by Assemblyman Joe Coto, then East Side Union High School District superintendent, and realized what his life calling was.
"I knew there was something different about me," he said, "especially in sophomore and junior year. It's a traditional time. Kids work during the summer, get their driver's licenses, but I couldn't. It influenced me that I was denied these traditional teen expectations."
They have a DREAM
The bleak outlook on attaining legal status can be disheartening for all immigrants, but especially for students whose status and situation are unaccounted for in the current immigration system.
"For minors as well as anyone else, especially those from Mexico and Central America, 90 percent have no way of obtaining legal status, an example of why our system doesn't work," says Mark Silverman, director of immigration policy at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center of San Francisco.
Currently, undocumented people, including minors, can become legal either through an application filed by their employer, a family member with legal status — parents, siblings and spouses — or through the foster system, but Silverman points out that these people cannot work legally.
"These students don't have the route," he says. "That's the basic, current situation."
An estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools in the United States every year. Without a route toward legal status, they are left with few options.
"All of these laws are technically designed for adults," says Lynette Parker, Santa Clara University clinical supervising attorney at the School of Law Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center. "The kids either fall into one of four categories or they don't. There's just not much designed for young people."
This growing group of undocumented immigrants needs to be accounted for and given a chance to give back to their communities, Parker says.
"The economy needs an influx of young people," she says. "It needs their dreams, visions and willingness to put some muscle behind them because this huge generation that's aging and retiring cannot."
Silverman agrees.
"These students are our future. It would be a shame if society would squander this future."
Silverman is an advocate of the DREAM act, a law proposed to the U.S. Senate in 2005 that would allow undocumented students brought into the country as children the chance to gain permanent legal status.
However, he emphasizes that this act is no free ride.
These students would be given a six-year temporary residency during which they attend either a four-year or two-year college or serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Along with this, they would be required to complete and uphold other standards outlined in the act, including keeping a clean criminal record and performing up to 900 community service hours.
After the students completed their education or time in the armed forces, they would be given probationary permanent residency for six years and start down a path toward citizenship.
"It has had a lot of bipartisan support, including, at the time, by Sen. [John] McCain," Silverman says. "People may blame Cesar's parents, but how can they blame him? These kids didn't choose to be here."
Although the bill is stagnant at the moment and McCain is no longer a supporter, Silverman says there should be a better idea of its potential success in November when the country elects a new president.
"I want the DREAM act to be passed because I want these bright immigrant students to help pay my Social Security," he says.
To U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the plan of action is obvious.
"Basically, these young people are de facto Americans," Lofgren says. "They were raised and brought up in this country."
She says that the argument that these individuals shouldn't be rewarded with legal status for breaking the law is illogical.
"Amnesty presumes that you've committed some fault," she says, which doesn't work if the children are being brought here along with the family.
The arguments, Lofgren says boil down to one thing: "racism in America — and as a country, we're better than this."
Out of the shadows
For most undocumented students, the journey through high school and college applications is a difficult and sometimes solitary one, and having a strong support base is key to keeping them striving forward.
In 2004, Student Advocates for Higher Education, or SAHE, formed at SJSU to create a larger venue for students to feel safe and know that they were not alone.
It is the first and largest organization of its kind in the state of California and has become a model for other campuses.
The group's main goal is to make undocumented students aware of their basic rights through advocacy, involvement and community.
Many undocumented students in 10 states, including California, can attend college and pay in-state tuition through state legislation.
In October 2001, California passed Assembly Bill 540 that allows students who have attended a California high school for at least three years and who are actively filing applications for legal status to be exempt from paying out-of-state tuition.
The student group formed around these students.
"We try to find those AB540 students out there and tell them to stick around," Juarez says.
Currently, the bill is being contested in the California Supreme Court by out-of-state students who are ineligible for tuition cuts and faces possible repeal. A similar suit was filed in Oct. 6, 2006, but the courts upheld the law.
If the law is repealed, tuition costs for undocumented students would jump to nearly $18,000 more a year for the University of California system and $8,000 more for the California State University system, and city colleges from $20 a unit to nearly $160. This would make higher education nearly impossible for these students, since they do not qualify for state or federal financial aid and most scholarships require a Social Security number.
Tuition is just one hurdle, however.
Saul Verduzco, founder of SAHE, was able to obtain his bachelor's degree in biology from SJSU and with the help of AB540 is currently working toward his master's degree in biology with the hopes of going on to medical school, but because he doesn't have a Social Security number, there isn't anywhere inside the country he can practice what he's learned.
Fight for change
Verduzco and Juarez say they are prepared to continue fighting for changes in the legal system.
"If we don't change our situation, who will?" Juarez says. "We have to lead in order to change. We need to make these students fearless, give them the assets they need. We have to change the law."
SAHE has grown in numbers and now, through fundraising, has offered the first round of high school scholarships for students planning on attending college.
SAHE awarded six scholarships ranging from $250 to $500 this summer. Nineteen applications were submitted.
"We went the hard way, selling food and stuff to fundraise the money," Verduzco says. "It keeps us going, brings us back to when you were a kid and wished someone would help you out."
Members of the group now participate in advocacy, whether by visiting high school and community college classrooms or by raising a sign on the state capital's front lawn, as members of the group did on Sept. 17.
Publicly admitting an undocumented status is always a gamble and a risk members of the group are always aware of.
A reminder of the consequences that come with the admission came in the summer of 2007 when the group held a hunger strike with students throughout the state for the rights of undocumented people and came under verbal attack by conservative radio personality Michael Savage.
"Let them fast until they starve to death," is what Savage told his listeners.
"My mom gets scared for me," Juarez says. "`You're gonna get not only yourself but all three of us deported,' she says to me, but we have to give a face to the problem."
Verduzco agrees.
"It's simple," he says. "We continue on because we have a goal in mind. We understand that a number on a card does not stop you from that and what you learn can never be measured. In college, you really think. You start to interact with people. That exposure makes you grow and less afraid of the system and people. Before, you don't want to do anything because you're afraid, but then you stand up for yourself, you're at the same level. You know where you come from; you can't go back.
"To change things, we need to start by doing it with ourselves. In order to make a difference in others, you have to start with yourself."
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewshea ... i_10776433Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 04:03 PM #2
Yaaaawn. $20 a credit??! In PA, an in-state student pays $219 per credit!! My sympathy is for AMERICAN students who can barely afford to pay for college! How about working to make it more affordable for AMERICAN kids to go to college? Illegal aliens should be entitled to zero, nothing, nada! I don't CARE how they got here, they are not our responsibility!
Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 05:19 PM #3
"I knew there was something different about me," he said, "especially in sophomore and junior year. It's a traditional time. Kids work during the summer, get their driver's licenses, but I couldn't. It influenced me that I was denied these traditional teen expectations."
That's rich millions of American teenagers displaced from job opportunities and he who has no legal right to be here complains.I support enforcement and see its lack as bad for the 3rd World as well. Remittances are now mostly spent on consumption not production assets. Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 05:33 PM #4"racism in America — and as a country, we're better than this."
Every student that goes to college has no guarentee there will be employment for them when they get out. I'd sure like to have some of that Kool-aid that makes everyone think this country is full of guarentees with minimul if any effort.Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 05:49 PM #5
"The economy needs an influx of young people," she says. "It needs their dreams, visions and willingness to put some muscle behind them because this huge generation that's aging and retiring cannot."
Yes, American young people need jobs with a future. We don't need more illegals to fill low-end, poorly paying jobs, creating a permanent under-class."A Nation of sheep will beget a government of Wolves" -Edward R. Murrow
Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 06:15 PM #6
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This growing group of undocumented immigrants needs to be accounted for and given a chance to give back to their communities, Parker says.Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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10-21-2008, 06:47 PM #7An estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools in the United States every year. Without a route toward legal status, they are left with few options.
The economy needs an influx of young people," she says. "It needs their dreams, visions and willingness to put some muscle behind them because this huge generation that's aging and retiring cannot."
"Basically, these young people are de facto Americans," Lofgren says. "They were raised and brought up in this country."
The arguments, Lofgren says boil down to one thing: "racism in America — and as a country, we're better than this."RIP Butterbean! We miss you and hope you are well in heaven.-- Your ALIPAC friends
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03-15-2009, 12:37 PM #8
cry baby
It is a shame that this guys family was abused by the father, but mama ran the wrong direction. And how many anchors did mama drop once she got her, for us to support and educate.
What's the problem, take that WONDERFUL FREE EDUCATION that you were not entitled to and go back to your country of origin and teach them, first teach them not to break or laws and invade our country. Families make these decision and then blame us because they are gonna be deported. It's like saying I was drunk and had an accident, but it is not my fault because it was Tuesday.
It is just another sob story, I have plenty too. When I was a child, my RICH AMERICAN mother raised 4 kids with no help from our father. He didn't beat us but found no reason to send support to feed us. She didn't go on welfare and have more kids.
I have no pity, complain to your mom. BYE BYE
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