Every child has a right to education. Good education. Sometimes, however, due to choices done by their parents, some children find their way toward good education blocked. This is the case of the undocumented immigrant children. Many immigrated in their early years, and know no other life than the one their family built in the United States. They studied their whole lives here, they are more fluent in English than in their heritage language, but when they graduate from high school, they have to stop studying because of the high costs of higher education, specifically in their cases: they would have to pay international student tuition.
This situation also limits their growth, both as citizen and as professionals. Therefore, we must support all the legislative initiatives that would allow these children to study. After all, they didn’t choose to come, why punish them?
For the reasons above, we, foreigners in general, should support the Dream Act (or similar wording included in the Immigration Reform). Under the Dream Act, undocumented children would be able to continue their education after high school, with a conditional legal resident status. They would also be able to apply for permanent legal resident status if they graduate from college, or served in the armed forces for at least two years. There are some criteria to be met, and these criteria reflect the situation of the majority of our children. Within the Dream Act, there is also a provision that restores the ability of states to allow in-state tuition to undocumented students.
In California, however, on October 12, 2001, Governor Gray Davis signed into law Assembly Bill 540 (Stats. 2001, ch. 814) that added a new section 68130.5 to the California Education Code., which allow undocumented students to study with the state resident’s tuition rate (not the international student tuition rate) at public colleges and/or universities, as long as certain requirements are met, such as attended high school (minimum of three years), had a high school diploma or equivalent degree (GED, for example), and is enrolled at community college, UC or CSU systems. These students will not qualify for government grants, but they sure can look for scholarships and/or grants through other organizations. These students also may sign an affidavit stating they would apply for the adjustment of status as soon as they would qualify.
For more information on the Dream Act, please visit the National Immigration Law Center at nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/index.htm#wu.
For more information about the Bill 540 in California, visit www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=05486313192+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
To write an email to your political representative in the United States to support the Dream Act, visit www.politap.com
