Immigrant kids chase dream

Congress weighs helping students into college, militaryBy Elizabeth AguileraDenver Post March 8, 2007
Without the chance to go to college, David Mendez fears he will never become an officer in the military. Leticia Mendoza worries that she won't become an engineer.
The students and nearly 50 others, all members of Jovenes Unidos, gathered Wednesday to support the Dream Act, which is pending in Congress.
The act, if passed, would allow illegal-immigrant students who meet certain requirements to acquire provisional legal status to attend college or serve in the military. It would also encourage states to offer these students in-state tuition.
In Colorado, state law bars illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition.
"Without this opportunity we will not be able to reach our dreams," said Mendoza, a freshman at North High School.
The students and supporters gathered in the north Denver headquarters of Padres and Jovenes Unidos. The parent group works on educational issues. Representatives of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Rights for All People, Peace Jam, the Muslim American Society and the American Friends Service Committee also were there.
"They are the future of this country," said Ricardo Martinez of Padres Unidos. "These students are part of U.S. society and they are not going to leave; they want to contribute."
Next week, a coalition of immigrant-rights representatives, including two from Padres and Jovenes Unidos, will travel to Washington to lobby Congress. Students had planned to go but are staying behind to take state exams, they said.
Each year 65,000 students nationwide - including about 12,000 in Colorado - graduate from high school but cannot go to college because they are illegal immigrants, Gonzales said.
Montbello High School principal Antwan Wilson, who was at the gathering, said he tries to encourage the students.
"I do support them," he said. "We have students who are undocumented in schools throughout the country and we are held accountable for them through No Child Left Behind. Being accountable means also providing a future for them."
Mendez, a three-year Junior ROTC student at Lincoln High School, has his sights set on the Air Force Academy or Colorado College if the act passes.
"It's not just for everyone, it's for the ones who try," he said. "It's not free, it's not a give-me, you have to work for it."