UNDOCUMENTED and UNAFRAID

VICTORY! During this Lame Duck session Student Labor Action Project launched its first ever “Students vs Lame Duck” set on passing the DREAM Act; the first step was ensuring both the House and Senate voted on it. Following Senator Reid’s statement yesterday, we have tasted victory! Now it’s time to hold our elected representatives accountable!

Every year 65,000 students are denied the right to an education based on the status of their documentation. In the past 24 hours, four students (known as DREAMers) have risked deportation and been arrested so they and others might be able to obtain an education.  The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, better known as the DREAM Act, would give these students a chance to have an equal opportunity at the American Dream in the only place they know as home: the United States.

Diego Sepulveda, a student at UCLA, goes on to describe the personal hardships faced daily.

“This piece of legislation for me, on a personal level, will validate the hard work that my parents and I have put into education  — the countless hours of working multiple jobs to pay for tuition, the long nights of studying, and the bloodshed to have my voice heard in higher education — to create an equal chance for every student who is qualified.

Yes, I’m an undocumented student in higher education, but the only reason that I’m at UCLA is because my parents help me pay for the increasing tuition. This piece of legislation is important to me because it’s based on fairness, equality, justice, and human rights for all students, especially those most discriminated – sometimes called aliens, illegals, and foreigners – who have no other alternative but to take the insults because of fear from deportation, raids, and rejection from society.

My name is Diego and I’m an undocumented student, so this piece of legislation impacts me directly in major ways. I have parents who work 13-15 hours a day to put food on the table and roof over our family’s head and, on top of that, pay for my schooling, transportation, and books. My heart as a son is broken when I see them struggling so much and being selfless, just to get me through school and providing me with the opportunities they never had in Mexico.

All students need is a chance because they have proven that they have what it takes to create systemic change within our society that will, in the long-run, move our country forward. We are the leaders of tomorrow and we demand change.”

In late September the Senate attempted to incorporate the DREAM Act into the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2011, but was met with a full Republican and one Democrat filibuster.

The DREAM Act is good for the economy. Lifetime earnings for someone with a bachelors degree is about one million dollars more than someone who has a high school diploma. Add to that, the 825,000 people who would probably obtain legal status from the DREAM Act would generate an estimated 1.38 trillion dollars over their working lifetimes. To context that number, the U.S. has spent a little less than that on military operations since 9/11. The DREAM Act would infuse an extraordinary amount of money into the U.S. economy.

Earlier this week the California State Supreme Court handed a unanimous decision down allowing undocumented students to continue receiving in-state tuition rates and financial aid. This marks a key victory for the DREAM Act as education is cemented as a human right, undeniable to anyone seeking it.

Jobs with Justice and Student Labor Action Project joins Diego in demanding Congress pass the DREAM Act during the Lame Duck Session. 

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 at 10:43 pm. It is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.