A Country’s Failure to Help Educate Illegal Immigrants

Think back to when you were a high school student and imagining your near endless opportunities after graduation. You could attend college, vocational school or enter the military. Regardless of the path you chose, it most likely included plans of settling down somewhere in the United States, a country you have known well since your childhood days.

Now, imagine yourself again as a high school senior, but now local authorities are explaining that you have no right to stay in the U.S. because your parents brought you here illegally as a child. Even if you are an honor roll student and have mastered the English language, remaining always a law-abiding resident, you would have to return to your country of origin or face deportation. Would you want to leave the U.S. and give up your dreams? Would you accept critics’ claims that you have been “milking the system” and should face the consequences?

According to the National Immigration Law Center, every year approximately 65,000 students raised in the U.S. face similar questions. Many of these students have achieved academically, excelled in sports or served as leaders in their communities. Despite their success and contributions, these students do not qualify for temporary legal status and face deportation at any moment.

On March 26, Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or the DREAM Act, in the U.S. Senate. Concurrently, Howard Berman (D-CA), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced the American Dream Act in the House of Representatives.

The DREAM Act would allow for:

1. U.S.-raised immigrants to apply for temporary legal status and eventually become eligible for U.S. citizenship if they attend college or serve in the military and
2. would eliminate federal penalties on states that provide in-state tuition without regard to immigration status.

In the past, the act has failed to pass in the Senate by only eight votes.

One would like to believe that such an act would easily pass, as it would serve as an important investment in our nation’s future during a time of economic uncertainty. Critics oppose the DREAM Act because they believe that illegal immigrants are undeserving of any type of opportunity. Are these critics, however, unaware of the consequences that arise from not providing opportunities to thousands, if not millions, of students who had no control over their arrival in the U.S.?

We, as a nation, are denying many of these students the opportunities to excel, to improve their socioeconomic status and to contribute as tax-paying citizens. And it is not just these students. Without the opportunity to obtain legal status in our nation, many of their children will most likely be born in the U.S., and will face similarly limited options for advancement. With limited opportunities to get financial aid, many of these families will decide not to send their children to college. We as a nation would be contributing to the on-going development of a permanent underclass throughout the U.S.

To assuage critic’s fears that such an act would encourage a large influx of illegal immigration, changes in the law would only provide eligibility to students who have been in the U.S. since the age of 15, or who were brought by their parents five years prior to the date of enactment. It would aid only those who maintain a good moral character while attending college or serving in the military. It would not provide Pell Grants or other federal grants to these students, though it would provide eligibility for federal work-study and student loans.

Critics have every right to be angry when people immigrate to the U.S. illegally or overstay their visas. These critics, however, must also understand that immigration to the U.S., be it legal or illegal, will continue to be a reality. We must now search for a way to ensure that we do not allow illegal immigrants, or their future children, to become a permanent underclass transcending generations.

The DREAM Act could serve as a means to slow the growth of underclass populations throughout our nation, while simultaneously allowing for students from those same communities to return someday as society’s leaders and contributors the world over. This is a time when we should not allow our anger or preconceived notions about illegal immigrants to impede our civic development. Instead, we must all strive to help move this nation forward.