The enthusiasm is infectious as we sit planning a 150 mile walk from New York City to Albany this spring. Most of us aren't runners or athletes, but we are prepared to make the journey because we cannot sit idly by while Washington toys with the lives of over two million undocumented youth raised in this country.
The walk aims at pushing for passage of the New York Dream Act, legislation created in the wake of yet another year's failure to pass national immigration reform. Recently, Mississippi's House voted to copy parts of Arizona's punitive immigration legislation, in the footsteps of Georgia's Senate's decision to ban undocumented youth from state colleges and universities. In contrast, New York is proposing to extend access to financial aid to all eligible New York youth regardless of immigration status.
The Supreme Court will decide the permissibility of state immigration legislation this spring. In the meantime, bills passed in states such as Arizona, Alabama, and now Mississippi highlight that laws often serve as the very vehicle through which discrimination is legitimized. Indeed, history suggests that constitutionality and human rights are not always aligned. It's been fifty-eight years since the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, which permitted racial segregation. How long will it take before we realize the profound injustice of putting undocumented youth on a separate track from their peers, prevented from pursuing their dreams in a country that uses their labor and taxes but denies their legitimacy?
The result is that undocumented youth have to be super citizens (without citizenship) as they attempt to live up to their potential. Coming from low-income households and denied access to loans, financial aid, and nearly all scholarships, these youth go to great lengths to fund higher education. Some take semesters or years off to save up, or take classes one at a time. Others become valedictorians in hopes of winning one of the few available scholarships. Some work 40-, 50-, or 70-hour weeks in low-wage jobs on top of full course loads. Still others collect bottles and cans for deposits or sell t-shirts or bracelets on fundraising pages, simply to get a college degree.
After college, denied the right to work legally in the country, a few undocumented youth collect multiple, hard-fought graduate degrees. Others find routes to self-employment to exercise professional skills. Most, however, endure long hours in low-wage, low-skill jobs, while waiting for laws to open the path to full self-sufficiency. At the same time, tired of waiting, undocumented youth are building their own systems of support, fundraising for scholarships, defending each other against deportation, mentoring younger undocumented students, and organizing to open greater avenues to educational attainment.
In short, they're pulling up on those all-American bootstraps as hard as they can pull, all while denied the right to call themselves Americans. To this group of ever-more talented and determined young adults, the country responds with criminalization, stigmatization, and orders of deportation.
The proposed state-level Dream Acts, such as New York's, will not solve all these problems. But by affirming their support for the educational aspirations of all of the state's youth, states like New York can help lead the national conversation on immigration to a more humane place, one in which passage of the 10-year-pending federal DREAM Act becomes possible.
Legislators could learn from the relentless bravery of undocumented youth activists. While the slogan "undocumented, unafraid, and unapologetic" depicts the spirit of these youth who have been fearless in the decade-long struggle to pass the federal DREAM Act, it does not quite capture the very real risk of deportation that students take when they go public with their status.
As one of the planners for the "Walk to Albany" explained, "My heart is into it and I am willing to walk, but my parents are afraid for me." Why go public if the risk is so high? For many undocumented students it is through resisting the barriers that constrain one's life that one finally feels alive. The DREAM Act movement extends beyond passing the DREAM Act - it is about resisting laws that dehumanize people and legitimize fears of an "other." It is a movement that affirms that justice, compassion, and empathy should indeed be the basis for policy.
New York has the chance to promote these values, by joining Texas, New Mexico, and California in extending state financial aid to undocumented youth, leading the way for other states to follow suit. Together states can pressure the federal government to provide the real relief that's needed for the two million undocumented students in the country. It is time to free the American Dream from the exclusivity of opportunities based on accident of birthplace. Let us all have the courage to become Dreamers.
In other words, there is no way they will ever be able to pay back the student loans they are demanding, or use the education that some citizen was denied so they could have it instead. They could work in their own countries, but intend to just stay here working under the table, and assisting future floods of illegal immigrants on how to break the law in our country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/us/community-college-to-charge-more-for-top-courses.html?scp=2&sq=community%20colleges&st=cse
About how community colleges are now so crowded that students cannot get into the courses they need to graduate or transfer to 4-yr colleges. Of course the Communities have come up with a solution-- higher prices for the most sought-after courses. But the point is-- THEY ARE OVER-CROWDED ALREADY! Sorry for shouting.
I have student loans. My sister has student loans. Too many AMERICAN born (and here for generations) students have student loans.
NO ONE is entitled to a damn thing in this country. I'm tried of those breaking the law expecting to be rewarded for it.
just kidding :) and we all make sacrifices you are not alone. No one is asking to get rewarded either so relax and re-read the article.
They are fighting for a dream ...just like Martin Luther King did...like Thomas Edison did with the light bulb...like Amelia Earheart when she wanted to be the 1st woman to fly all over the world...search in your heart ...where are yours [dreams] ?? We all have the right to live and better ourselves ...you being born here or not ..shouldn't determine your education limitations.
IF THEY EARN IT ...GIVE IT TO THEM ...let these children PROVE that they deserve it for they will be working in the USA and will then pay taxes and contribute more to our Country. Let us place the pros & cons on the balance beam.
We have much to gain for it will prove to be beneficial to OUR nation. Remember, Liberty & Justice for ALL!
except these people are not Americans, they are illegal aliens. Which there will be thousands more roaming the streets after high school in June. Working jobs that US citizens should have to feed their families.
I get that they want this really, really, really badly, but that's just not how it works.
What's the benefit?
They are unemployable ~
U.S.C. 8 § 1324a : US Code - Section 1324A: Unlawful employment of aliens ~ http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/8/12/II/VIII/1324a
2.1 million The DREAMers added to the already 13 million out of work in the USA will increase the existing 8.3% U.S. Unemployment Rate to 10.3%
Or are 2.1 million of the 11.2 million illegals unauthorized to work in the USA going to "self-deport" to allow room for the 2.1 million The DREAMers to have their jobs?
Thus, the U.S. Unemployment Rate would stay the same at a wopping 8.3%?
Currently, 13 million U.S. Citizens have been out of work for the past consecutive 39 months.
While, 11.2 million illegals in the USA, unauthorized to work, are working ~ sending $30 billion USD out of the U.S. Economy each & every year since 2007.
How does this "contribute" to the U.S. Ecomomy of nearly $16 trillion National Debt?
Justice? These people are here ILLEGALLY - they are costing us BILLIONS of tax dollars already and now you want us to spend BILLIONS more? Where is the justice in that? We have CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants who NEED that money.
Compassion? What about the compassion for the CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants who NEED an education? How about showing compassion to the people who are here LEGALLY? Why not take theses ILLEGAL ALIENS back to their own countries and work for compassion there?
Empathy? What about having empathy for the CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants who can't get into a college because an ILLEGAL ALIEN has ILLEGALLY taken their spot?
We do need Justice, Compassion, and Empathy for those who are here LEGALLY - for those who are here ILLEGALLY - they need to "live up to their potential" in their OWN countries!
Hence, how immigration can serve, or not, the best interest of the nation?
These immigrants are here illegally as some Americans managed to create a law limiting freedom of other Americans to hire foreigners. The constitutionality of the law limiting liberties of Americans can and should be challenged.
Why some Americans want to limit freedom of other Americans to hire foreigners? They do it because they have minimum wage skills but want the middle class standard of living, and they have an illusion that by keeping immigrants at the gate, they can force American employers to pay middle class wages for the low wage jobs.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/henryk-a-kowalczyk/illegal-immigration-jobs_b_1258627.html
13 million of my brothers & sisters out of work for the past consecutive 39 months of 8.3%+ U.
S. Unemployment Rate ~
Trying to feed, clothe, shelter & educate THEIR CHILDREN with NO JOBS
While ~ 11.2 million illegals, unauthorized to work in the USA, are working illegally in the USA
And ~ Sending $30 billion USD out of the U.S. Economy, annually, to the countries of their citizenships
How does this, contribute to the U.S. Economy?
U.S.C. 8 § 1623 : US Code - Section 1623: Limitation on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens not lawfully present on basis of residence for higher education benefits
(a) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not
lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the
basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for
any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of
the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an
amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen
or national is such a resident.
(b) Effective date
This section shall apply to benefits provided on or after July 1,
1998.
For broader explanation of this point of view pleae check:
http://www.freedomofmigration.com/why-do-we-have-11-million-illegal-immigrants-and-what-do-we-do-with-them/
The old 'nature vs. nurture' argument seems to apply here. Most of these people will end up in jail anyway, they were raised as criminals. Thats all they know.