DREAM Act for California Immigrant Students Gets Push
New America Media, News Report, Seth Sandronsky , Posted: Feb 05, 2010
“In dreams, immigration officials rushed in and arrested me,” said Ju H. “I woke up sweating. My heart was pounding.”
Eyes tearing, the 20-year-old immigrant without citizenship documents from South Korea and current community college student in the San Francisco Bay Area continued telling his story to advocates, lawmakers and students at a crowded Capitol summit in Sacramento on Wednesday.
He described barriers to federal and state help for himself and others like him seeking education at four-year institutions. The walls to such schooling would fall with passage of the federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, first introduced in Congress in 2001.
The bipartisan legislation was re-introduced in March 2009 in the 111th Congress as S. 729 and H.R. 1751. This proposed bill would allow tens of thousands of students whose undocumented parents brought them to the United States, where they grew up, attended schools and worked, to access many forms of financial aid to achieve the “American Dream” of gaining a higher education degree and securing stable employment afterwards.
For example, the DREAM Act would amend current federal immigration law and allow states to grant residency status to undocumented youth who have graduated from high school. This, in turn would qualify such students for state college tuition, less costly than what non-residents pay.
In addition, the DREAM Act would allow these students to receive federal grants and be eligible for work-study programs at higher education institutions.
Speakers at the summit made clear the political obstacles to passing the DREAM Act.
“Today is a time of fierce anti-immigrant hysteria,” said State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-LA). “But I have optimism in spite of this with President Obama who ran on a platform of hope and change, plus a business community that understands the vital role of immigrants in the state economy.”
The expansion of an educated American work force itself is a policy of economic stimulus, the president has said.
Cedillo and his fellow lawmakers at the DREAM Act summit drew parallels between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which overcame discrimination against African Americans to the passage of the DREAM Act today.
“This is a continuing movement for civil rights,” said State Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach). State Senator Curren Price (D-LA), concurred with Cedillo and Furutani, noting the urgent need to remove barriers to higher education for undocumented students.
The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, and the Latino, Black and Asian Pacific Islander Legislative caucuses, sponsored the DREAM Act summit in Sacramento. According to the College Board, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools across the nation each year. In California alone, there are an estimated 26,000 undocumented youth, according to a 2006 Pew Foundation study.
They need allies to improve their educational opportunities after high school, said Kent Wong, an attorney, UCLA professor and director of the Center for Labor Research and Education. “These students were brought to this country through no decision of their own by parents and relatives looking for a better life,” he said.
The arc Wong described fits the life of Ju H. His mother, after a bankruptcy and divorce in South Korea, brought his sister and him to America nine years ago. He is studying political science and hopes to attend UC Berkeley in the future.
With the state budget deficit growing after the housing crash due to falling property and sales tax revenues, California lawmakers have hiked fees by double digits for students in the UC and California State University systems. With these costs rising, the dream of attending a state college or university could be fading fast for undocumented students with high school diplomas.
“We need your help in leadership roles to help us pass the DREAM Act in 2010,” said Ju H.
Seth Sandronsky lives and writes in Sacramento. Contact sandronsky@yahoo.com.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f55d7b4a0ad08eb5bc966f5712cb5a63
Too Much At Stake for Complacency – A Call to Action for Immigration Reform
“Look at those illegals,” my friend said jokingly while he was dropping me off to the Bart Station. He pointed at two Mexican immigrants standing against the fence. Although it was a joke, I was extremely angry. Yet, I was defenseless and vulnerable. I simply laughed with him and stayed casual as if nothing happened. Once he dropped me off, I wondered if he would treat me differently if he knew that I’m also “illegal.”
I was born and raised in South Korea until I was 11. When I was in South Korea, the country was facing economic crisis. I remember our family had financial difficulties and we were in deep trouble. Soon after, our family filed bankruptcy. The following year, my mom and my dad divorced. With my mom and older sister, we were barely surviving in our home country, South Korea.
On July 25, 2001, we came to the United States to seek a better life. I was twelve years old. But once we arrived here, we faced a different set of challenges because of our immigration status.
As a single parent, it was hard for my mom to raise me and my sister. She works twelve hours a day, seven days a week, sacrificing her time and energy to support my education and provide food on the table each day. Almost every two months, she has to look for a different job because of her immigration status. She often looks exhausted and overwhelmed after work.
Like my mom, my sister works full-time. Until recently she attended community college at the same time but because of financial difficulties, she had to drop out. My sister had the chance to attend more prestigious colleges and universities. Instead, she is 24 years old and working two shifts at a restaurant, mopping floors, and washing dishes, while her friends are experiencing college life.
I also work at a restaurant and attend college full-time. While I feel fortunate to work, sometimes I feel humiliated working “under the table” and getting paid such low wages. It’s extremely difficult and frustrating, but it’s the only option for me to pay for college.
During my senior year in high school, I learned that my visa had expired and I was living here without documentation. While my friends talked about colleges, I worried about whether or not I could even go to college. Despite all my hard work in high school, I didn’t have access to educational opportunities that most people take for granted.
Being an Asian American undocumented student, it was especially challenging to come out from the shadow, because of the cultural taboo and social discrimination in my own community. This isolation led to periods of depression.
Worst of all, I’m afraid of being deported. I have nightmares about I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents knocking on the door to arrest my mom, sister, and me. I clearly remember one dream where I.C.E. agents chased after me in the darkness. As they surrounded me in a corner to arrest me, I woke up in a horror. I couldn’t go back to sleep. Every day, I search for a way out of these wicked nightmares.
One of the ways that I face my fear is that I’m speaking up.
Despite all the challenges I face, I’ve never given up my hopes of achieving higher education and living my dreams like everybody else.
Today, I have a 3.8 GPA and involve in many extra-curricular activities. I work hard and push myself to show that anything is possible in this country, despite my undocumented status. And I will continue to push myself to be a role model to other people, especially in the Asian American community.
There are thousands of Asian American undocumented students who are struggling to live a normal life just like me. Clearly, immigration is not only a Latino issue; it impacts everyone. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, about 11.6 million undocumented immigrants are living in this country. 1.2 million are Asian American. Moreover, a recent report by the University of California Office of the President revealed that 40 to 44 % of undocumented students in the UC system are Asian, of which 60% are Korean, 14% are Chinese, 10% are Filipino, 7% are Indian or Pakistani, 7% are Thai or other Asian descent.
Asian Americans are the second largest undocumented population, yet I believe we have not been as visible in fighting against discrimination and promoting immigration reform.
UCLA Labor Center, Kent Wong said, “These [undocumented] students risk themselves to speak out despite having no legal status and being subjugated to deportation, but greater risk is silence in the face of oppression and injustice!”
I knew I couldn’t just wait and hope for politicians to solve our problems. In spite of deportation, it is crucial that our voices get heard. We need to fight for our dreams that will determine our future. In this economic recession, immigrants and minorities will get the worst hit. However, we cannot simply give up and be silent.
How long do we have to wait for the immigration system to be fixed? Not long I’d say, if Latino, Asian American and others come out from the shadow and address this critical issue together. It is urgent us to erase old traditional cultural taboos and move forward.
Korean American community needs to stand up. Chinese American community needs to stand up. Vietnamese American community needs to stand up. Pakistani American community needs to stand up. Japanese American community needs to stand up. Indian American community needs to stand up. All Asian American communities need to stand up to fight and push comprehensive immigration reform to pass in 2010.
Don’t be silent or ashamed to talk about immigration or your lives; we need you more than ever before. Comprehensive immigration reform will pass only if we stand united as one.
2010 is going to be a special year. It will be the year that the immigration reform will pass and we can all begin a new chapter in our lives.
My feet is tired, but my soul is rested
Dear friends and supporters,
Today, we are going to witness a defining moment in history in our lives.
On January 1st, 2010, four passionate young immigrant students from Florida will walk 2,000 mile and 4-month long journey to rewrite the American History. These bravery students will begin to walk from Florida to Washington D.C. to bring sense of urgency to solve our broken immigration system. They are demanding President Obama to stop the separation of families and deportation of DREAMers. Most importantly, they want to see just and humane immigration reform that includes equal access to education, an end to the separation of families, worker’s rights, and a pathway to citizenship. By May 1st, 2010, they hope to stand in the U.S. Capitol with thousands of people across from the states to rally for the comprehensive immigration reform.
I want to share one of the four walker’s story, Gaby, who truly inspired me and thousands of other people in this country.
Gaby moved to Miami at the age of seven. Gaby holds an Associate of Arts degree in Music Education, and an Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education, as well as a BA in Exceptional Education Degree K-12 from Miami Dade College. She was the Student Government Association President at the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College and the Florida Junior Community Colleges Student Government Association President in 2005-2006, representing 1.1 million students throughout Florida. Since 2003, she has been an advocate for the DREAM Act and in-state tuition and was one of the founding members of S.W.E.R. Gaby is a woman that would give the clothes on her back to help someone who needs it more. She walks for all the children without a voice and is willing to sacrifice herself to pave the way for their future because she believes in the power of love. She also believes that “the meltdown of our society will not start with global warming rather with intellectual freezing,” and she “can’t understand why we continue to detain young vibrant students when we know that we only live once and the future depends on the youth.” She walks because in her heart she knows that faith without action is dead!
Our task is clear and simple, we have to make these student’s dreams into reality. We must, because their dream is our dream, and their future is our future. We must, because if alone, can’t reach the final destination. They are calling us in California, they need our help. We may not be able to walk with them physically, but we can surely help them in many different ways. There are several ways we can help the students: 1. Fund-raise 2. In solidarity, fast and walk in our home base. 3. Visit trailofdreams.net to show our support. These are the ways to help them to achieve its goal, but there are plenty of other ways to help them as well. With that being said, I’m determined – I’m determined to sacrifice and risk myself to help them. However, my sacrifice is far beyond the measure from these bravery students, but I want to show in solidarity of support and I want to be part of making a history in 2010. So then, my question is, will you sacrifice with them? I believe through sacrifice is the only way to make our dreams into reality. Imagine how difficult for them to make a decision to sacrifice their education, their time, and their own body. They are completely exposing and risking themselves just to represent on behalf of 12 million immigrant’s dreams. Despite of all the odds and challenges, they are willing to fight for the dreams that will determine our future. Through this movement, I can clearly see the sense of urgency. They cannot wait, I cannot wait, and we as DREAMers cannot wait for another decades to fix the broken immigration reform. We cannot wait and time is now! I can see it, I can see it. So let’s make these student’s dreams into reality.
The time is critical and the opportunity is near, we must act as if 2010 will be the last chance for us. So let us sacrifice our needs and show our strength to reach our dreams. During a President Election campaign, Obama gave a great speech in the day before the Martin Luther King’s Holiday Day. He said, “Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone. So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.” Again, this movement shouldn’t be just four students alone. This is not a Florida’s action; this is a national wide action to fulfill our dreams.
2010 is going to be a special year for all of us. It is the year that we don’t need to just dream, it is the year that we will make our dreams into reality. It will be the year that we will celebrate together and begin a new chapter for our lives.
I want to close out with speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave during civil rights movement’s era. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to this fatigue the week after the Selma March in a message titled “Our God is Marching On. “We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains. Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said—a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott—and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feet is tired, but my soul is rested.”
My prayer goes out to four bravery students walking Florida to Washington D.C.
Sincerely.
