Squashing Their DREAM
Put forth on December 17, 2009 by XicanoPwr
Posted in Dream Act, Immigration, Prejudices, Texas, Xenophobia
There are many problems we are currently facing; they range from a faltering economy, a health-care crisis, and the continuing war in Afghanistan. However, the debate over immigration policy, the one issue that stands above all others, has uncovered deep divisions within the United States over the treatment of undocumented immigrants.
Recently, Rep. Luis Gutierrez introduced in Congress, Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009, to renew the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. For many immigration advocate groups, the bill is seen as the first step toward fixing the broken immigration system. Nevertheless, many political observers are anticipating getting this bill passed will be an uphill battle.
Gutiérrez’s CIR ASAP bill would include border enforcement provisions, visa reforms that promote family unity, the strengthening of employer sanctions, and a path to permanent residence for undocumented immigrants, who eventually could achieve citizenship if they proved evidence that they have been working, pay a $500 fine, learn English and have no criminal record.
One of the provision that is included in the CIR ASAP is the DREAM Act component, which would provide for the legalization of undocumented youth who have graduated from high school in the US and are pursuing higher education. This provision would successfully integrate the growing number of immigrant students in US schools by removing the barriers that hinder thousands of young students who have grown up in this country from going to college.
According to the College Board, it is estimated that about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from US high schools each year. Although they can legally attend most colleges, they are not eligible for most forms of financial aid and many do not qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. Even if an undocumented immigrant student applies to a college, in many states, they are forced to pay out-of-state tuition fees, which can be more than three times the in-state tuition rate.
To help alleviate this problem, in 2001, Texas became the first state in the country to enact legislation to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state rates, provided, they meet certain criteria. Since then, more than a dozen states have acted: ten allowing residency and several denying it.
As if the hardships undocumented immigrants encounter is not enough, a Texas anti-immigration organization is determined to add insult to injury by making it impossible to attend college. The Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) has filed a lawsuit challenging Texas’ state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state rates, according to the Houston Chronicle.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that at least 8,000 illegal immigrants attend Texas colleges and universities at discounted tuition rates for in-state residents or receive some form of state financial aid, saying the statute violates federal law. The lawsuit also requests an injunction barring illegal immigrants from receiving the in-state break on tuition or state-funded financial aid.
“We don’t think that taxpayers should break federal law in order to subsidize people who are in the United States illegally,” [David A. Rogers, a lawyer for the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas], said.
While people may disagree on the issues for immigration reform, it is difficult to understand IRCOT’s harsh take on the state’s statue concerning undocumented college students, which they have characterized as a violation of federal law. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact of the matter is that in-state residency is entirely a state-determined benefit or status. To date, federal law grants states the right to pass their own legislation regarding in-state residency for undocumented students, according to Michael A. Olivas, a law professor at the University of Houston and director of the Institute of Higher Education Law & Governance. This was also confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security in a letter to the North Carolina Attorney’s General office, stating that federal law does not prohibit the admission of undocumented students to universities and college.
In the midst of these state-by-state policy debates, students can all too easily dissolve into statistics and their experiences into testimony. It becomes easy to overlook the consequences, both on an individual level and even an institutional one.
The sad truth, these state laws are also limited in scope. They are unable to provide any means for changing one’s immigration status. As a result, once they have finished their college education, they are unable to contribute to our economy to the full extent of their abilities, leaving them in employment limbo.
The ghosts of our legacy of racial inequality continue to haunt us. Incidents of racial violence; the racial inequities in the nation’s criminal justice system; the racial disparities present in health care delivery and access; the acrimonious debates over immigration policy; the hate crimes perpetrated against those from another country; and now with this latest move by the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas provide ample evidence that dehumanizing immigrants has become too commonplace in our society.
Tags: Dream Act, Immigration |
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This is the blog of Edmundo "XicanoPwr" Rocha, a social worker, an activist, freelance writer and founder and editor of The Sanctuary. My interests include: immigration reform, critical race theory and it's interaction with equality/inequality and freedom/oppression as they relate to the experiences of people of color in the Americas.
Para Justicia y Libertad is a Latino-centered political blog focusing on the humanistic perspective of politics, history, and society as they relate to the Latina/o community throughout Texas and the United States.
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There is one very simple way to prevent “the hardships undocumented immigrants encounter.”
They can GO HOME.
They are BREAKING THE LAW.
Is there some part of BREAKING THE LAW that is unclear?
There’s no simple solution for undocumented immigrants. They endure all kinds of hardships to be here because in most cases the hardships they face at home are worse. The majority of the people who come here without papers have no alternatives for legalizing their status here. The law is broken, it’s unjust, and only serves to make desperate people even more desperate.
To address the case of undocumented students specifically, most of whom were brought here as small children, what “HOME” would you suggest that they return to, David? This country is the only home they know & love. No one is asking for special treatment for these kids. They’re already ineligible for financial aid. All they want is to pay their own way, at in-state rates. Allowing them to do so hurts no one, and results in one more kid in college instead of on the streets with no hope.
David. The law itself is broken. It is counterproductive, exploitative and bigoted. Hey, there are still laws on the books in some states making consensual sodomy illegal. Would you say people engaging in that activity in those states should be punished? How can a kid going to University be hurting anyone? He’ll get a btter job and pay more taxes.
It is obvious immigration provokes passions on both sides of the issue. Seeing from your response, we definitely are mirror opposites of each other.
It is obvious your objections to the undocumented attending college are collateral, second-order priorities. Bottom line is, your are wanting to punish the children for the sins of their parents. Is that really fair?
We are not talking about recent undocumented immigrants who just came here, these are the children who came here not by choice. Like a child growing up in the military, they have no choice where they live, why should this be any different for a children from undocumented parents.
Many of them who arrived as children have no ties to their country of origin, yet, you are wanting them to become strangers in a strange land.
Fortunately for these extremely vulnerable students, the law is on their side. Immigration is not a cause of injustice, but a symptom. Only by fixing our broken immigration system, we can begin addressing these issues.
Excellent post, thank you! Thomas Jefferson went to great lengths to make sure that the Constitution parted from English law – to make sure that the debts of parents could never be passed on to their children. This is one foundation of US law that we can be proud of, where children are never culpable for their parents’ actions. To want to punish talented young people who have much to contribute to our society is un-American in my book. Of course, I think no one should be ‘punished’ for trying to survive… but maybe that’s a larger argument for another day!
Where is HOME when someone is brought to the US as a baby or toddler?
The law is the law, who makes it a law and for what purposes? What/who is the law protecting? Is the law as hypocritical as those who instate them?
Who broke the law, a 5 year old child who migrated with his/her parents? The IRS who allows those parents to set up bank accounts and business and pay taxes even though they are not documented?
Is it logical to provide the right to education for 12 years and deny it for the last 4? Who makes an investment and stops investing as they are about to get the benefits?
When does the stupid idea of protecting what is MINE because I happened to be born HERE, get in the way of getting practical economic benefit from migration and educating migrants? Unless you would like to create a class of under-educated, under-employed, under-paid, under-served, that you can easily exploit under the banner of legality…
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