I have friends who are finishing their college education pero can’t find jobs because they don’t have papers. I know students who are graduating high school but worry about college as an option because they don’t have papers. While generally I am wary of promoting that a certain class of immigrant should be “legalized” over another, because I feel it promotes the classist ideal that only “educated” immigrants should have access to a status out of the shadows, the DREAM Act is worthwhile because it is a step in helping a younger generation of immigrants move forward and don’t we all deserve the access to make ourselves better? Isn’t that what that whole “American Dream” talk is about.

Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students

The problem: Many American students graduate from college and high school each year, and face a roadblock to their dreams: they can’t drive, can’t work legally, can’t further their education, and can’t pay taxes to contribute to the economy just because they were brought to this country illegally by their parents or lost legal status along the way. It is a classic case of lost potential and broken dreams, and the permanent underclass of youth it creates is detrimental to our economy. Former Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch has said: “In short, although these children have built their lives here, they have no possibility of achieving and living the American dream. What a tremendous loss for them, and what a tremendous loss to our society.”

The solution: The federal DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), is a bipartisan legislation that would permit these students conditional legal status and eventual citizenship granted that they meet ALL the following requirements:

* if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16, are below the age of 30,
* have lived here continuously for five years,
* graduated from a U.S. high school or obtained a GED
* have good moral character with no criminal record and
* attend college or enlist in the military.

Yeah, I’m not gonna front, the whole part of enlisting in the military bothers me, especially when it is young people of color being placed at the front lines to invade and police other people of color nations. I also cringe a little at the “having good moral character and no criminal record” part because well having a criminal record unfortunately is pretty common for many young people in our communities because of racial profiling. Is it of good moral character to protest, for example, what’s happening in Gaza now?

Yeah, I know that breaking the DREAM Act down like that may not make me the most popular Latina on the block (not that I ever will be).
Pero I also know that many people aren’t going to agree with me and to be honest I voted for the the DREAM Act at Change.org , because I do know people that will benefit from it. So support the DREAM Act, vote here, pero support the dreams of the many, not just the few.