Chasing their DREAMs

Rally backs measure that would provide legalization path for kids of illegalsBy Peter MarcusDenver Daily News Staff WriterJune 24, 2009
A seventh-grade Denver charter school student says Congress needs to pass comprehensive immigration reform so that he can follow his dreams.
“As kids, we dream about becoming doctors or lawyers, but it is very hard for undocumented students to make these dreams come true,” said Jesus, a seventh-grade Cesar Chavez Academy student who declined to give his last name because of the controversial nature of the topic. “They go to school from kindergarten through eighth grade. But once they get to high school they realize how hard it is for undocumented students to go to college. Many of them lose hope and give up on going to school and end up dropping out. Their dreams cannot come true.”
Wearing caps and gowns yesterday and holding a mock graduation ceremony, student members of Metro Organizations for People stood on the west steps of the Capitol to display their support for federal legislation that would grant undocumented students up to six years of legal residence to pursue a college degree. The rally was also backed by Padres & Jovenes Unidos.
Following completion of a two-year college, or two years towards a four-year degree, the DREAM Act would allow for students to obtain permanent residency.
It is estimated that around 50,000 undocumented students are currently enrolled in higher education institutions across America — they would all be eligible for the DREAM Act.
Colorado lawmakers this year attempted to pass legislation that would have offered in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants. But the Tuition Equity bill failed in the Senate just as it has on three previous occasions.
Supporters want pathway
Supporters of immigration reform are encouraging Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. President Barack Obama has signaled his support for such reform, but acknowledges that it will be difficult to achieve reform this year.
Some lawmakers, however — including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — believe they can have legislation ready for debate by the fall. The question is finding floor time to advance such comprehensive reform.
Obama tomorrow will host a group of lawmakers to discuss reform efforts.
In a recent interview with the Denver Daily News, former Congressman Tom Tancredo — an outspoken critic of illegal immigration — pointed out that there already exists a pathway to citizenship for immigrants.
“There is a pathway to citizenship, we’ve had it for a long, long time,” he said last week. “It’s called, ‘Come in the door marked immigration, legal immigration.’”
Meanwhile, DREAM Act supporters stood at the Capitol yesterday holding signs and chanting, “Sí, se puede,” Spanish for, “Yes, we can.”
Boasberg backs DREAM Act
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg also spoke in support of the legislation.
“Everything we do in our schools emphasizes college and the importance of going to college, and yet we say to our students who work for it, who graduate from high school — in some cases who graduate from honors — we don’t give them the right to go to college that we give to other students and that’s not fair, and that’s not right,” said Boasberg.
Elisa, a recent Denver high school graduate, said that out of the 800 students in her original class, only 300 graduated. She blames a lack of comprehensive immigration reform for those alarming statistics.
“Many of those 500 students were the ones who once had dreams and goals to be the best that they could be, but, at some point, faced with hardships and negativity, were forced to turn off the light that made them who they were and lost the hope of who they could be,” she said. “It is devastating to see people who were once so cheerful and positive go through their lives continually asking why should they continue to work so hard when faced with the storm of a broken immigration system if they will never get to see the rainbow after the storm … they will have to reminisce all their life of what could have been and what will never be.”