Dream Act Critical Analysis
Emerald Dunn Dr. Adams PAS 333 03/10/11 Feeding for a College Education as an Immigrant University of Louisville is known for one of the top Institutions to have the most diversity on campus in Kentucky. We have numerous programs to help integrate the population and help get others involved on the campus so that students can become acclimated to the Institutions and it’s peers. However, even though we do have diversity the percentage of Latinos and Asians are low.
This is seen as issue that has been going on for years, and in order to fix the problem numerous implications and recommendations have been tried to be pushed in order to help increase diversity among the campus. One of the major implications is the Dream Act to help increase immigrants chances to get into an institution. Since then, I feel that a Scholarship based program should be implemented onto the campus for the Asians and Latino population, just as there is one targeted for the African-American population.
The Dream Act is a legislation that provides a potential pathway to legalized status for undocumented youth. The Dream Act has been trying to passed since 2001, but the government kept over looking it. Which caused for immigrants(youth) to take matters into their own hands, which related to sit-ins and rally’s and youth writing to the president to address the issue. In the article “Undocumented & Unafraid: The DREAM Act 5 and the Public Disclosure of Undocumented Status as a Political Act” by Rene?
Galindo depicts 6 young immigrant adults individual stories on how difficult it has been as an immigrant not only tp be accepted by society, but to have the access to higher education. It is the stories of immigrant youth that have formed the ? ght for the DREAM Act. One of the young women stated that “Our stories and the stories from our community are what will mold and push immigrant rights forward along with I don’t know let’s say like 100,000 calls! truggles and the risks they had taken to try and get the Act passed”. This quote shows how passionate the young lady is about getting the Act passed. Following, the struggles remained a prominent issues for the immigrants up until 2011. As seen in the article A Dream Detained: Undocumented Latino Youth and the DREAM Movement by Arely M. Zimmerman “One of the key concerns has been the record number of deportations since Obama took office.
Already in 2011, the Obama administration has deported 400,000 people, totaling more than a million during his tenure in office, far exceeding the number of deportations under the Bush administration. 20 The high figures are largely attributed to Obama’s aggressive implementation of programs such as Secure Communities, or S-Comm, a three-year-old partnership between federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and local law enforcement, which facilitates the sharing of information such as the fingerprints of arrested and detained individuals” Pg 1.
In this quote Zimmerman, states that Obama is the cause of immigrant deportation from the U. S.. This leads to the immigrants not being able to get a higher education because they end up getting deported before even being able to reach the status as a college student. However, Gonzales Alfonzo refutes with Zimmeran in the article “Immigration Reform: Keeping up the Pressure”. Alfonzo states that it is just Presidents Obama’s job to keep our country safe and abide by the rules.
If there are illegal immigrants in the United States then they have to be deported. I concede with Alfonzo, I believe in the law and I want Latinos and Asians to be able to go to college degree, but they have to have their papers and legal documentation to show that they are a legal citizen in America. If they are not then they have to go and I see that this is an issue that may be a wider concern for not only the population on University of Louisville’s campus, but a bigger issue state wide. .
In addition the article “Lost American DREAM of Undocumented Students: Understanding the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act” Kim constructs that some society members feel that “Despite the potential bene? ts of the DREAM Act to the United States—increased tax revenues, reduced social costs of school dropout, provision of humanitarian relief, recruitment of military personnel, and enrichment of cultural diversity—the act’s opponents argue that undocumented students and their families should be deported because they are in the United States illegally (Sessions, 2010).
Moreover, they object to spending taxpayers’ money to subsidize the college tuition of undocumented students by granting them in-state tuition rates” pg 57. Kim is stating that society does not want illegal immigration in America and if there is, then they do not want their tax revenue to go towards helping pay for their college. This goes to show that not only does it com off to the immigrants that the president does not want illegal immigrants here but also society.
This can make the undocumented students suffer from constant fear of deportation, anxiety, loneliness, depression, limited travel options, and economic dif? culties. Paralleling with the statement above, Buenavista and Gonzales from the article of DREAMs Deterred: Filipino Experiences and an Anti-Militarization Critique of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act” coincides with the fear and the reality of immigrants who are undocumented and want to go to college.
Buenavista and Gonzales argues “Though it is projected that the passage of the DREAM Act would propel more youth to pursue college, the reality is that the individual merits and determination of undocumented students face a difficult opponent in the pursuit of educational attainment. This opponent is the combination of larger institutional factors—high secondary push-out rates, poor post secondary access and retention rates, increasing college costs, and ineligibility for important forms of financial aid—that will deter young people from fulfilling the educational provisions of the DREAM Act” pg. 1. I absolutely agree with the statement. Yes the Dream Act, should be passed but we as people have to look at the reality of it. When the Dream Act does get passed what is the likely hood of the students getting a scholarship or being able to pay for college once they get there? I believe the Dream Act is a great legislation act that will benefit the next generation to come, but as of right now it will still take an extended period of time to fill out all the paper work needed and making sure they are legal immigrants, which serve as a barrier to the immigrants.
I believe that this is evident on the University of Louisville’s campus. When going to class daily the population that I see of Hipics or Asians is a very low. The two come in at a low percentage of 3% as compared to African Americans who come in 12% and with Caucasians making up 77% of the population rate. I think that because of illegal immigration becoming such an issue and having to have a social security number and documents to prove that you are a legal U. S. Citizen has become a set back for the immigration rate, which leads to the steadily incline of the minorities.
I believe that this is one of the main reasons that there is not a lot of Asians and Hipics that go to this school based off of the following reasons-financial, economic struggles, and undocumentation of the student. I think that the University should have a better admission team to admit Hipics and Asians. Instead of the minorities being marginalized they should be put to their fullest potential. To do so I feel like the Hipics should have a scholarship program like the Woodford C. Porter scholarship that is given out to the incoming students.
The requirements should be the same as the Porter scholarship (keeping a 3. 0 G. P. A. And going to events) that will help the students get here and keep them here. With this policy being it will help aid to education which will help increase the retention and oncoming freshman on the campus. Works Cited Galindo, R. (2012). Undocumented & Unafraid: The DREAM Act 5 and the Public Disclosure of Undocumented Status as a Political Act. Urban Review, 44(5), 589-611. doi:10. 1007/s11256-012-0219-0 Gonzales, A. (2010). Immigration Reform: Keeping Up the Pressure. NACLA Report On The Americas, 43 (2), 3.
Kim, C. (2013). Lost American DREAM of Undocumented Students: Understanding the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act. Children & Schools, 35(1), 55-58. doi:10. 1093/cs/cds041 Lachica Buenavista, T. , & Beltran Gonzales, J. (2011). DREAMs Deterred: Filipino Experiences and an Anti-Militarization Critique of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. ,Asian American Policy Review, 2229-37. Zimmerman, A. M. (2011). A Dream Detained: Undocumented Latino Youth and the DREAM Movement. NACLA Report On The Americas,44(6), 14-17.
