Students Fast For The DREAM Act

Angela Perez has big plans. She started this year as a freshman at LaGuardia Community College, but says she hopes to transfer to Princeton, study political science, maybe become a journalist.
Only one thing stands in her way. Angela is an undocumented immigrant.
She is one out of five students from the Latin American Integration Center in Queens, and hundreds of others across the country, who are refusing to eat for a week to support Senate Bill 1545, known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Minors Act or the DREAM Act.
Students, immigrant advocates and labor organizers in New York joined a nationwide fast on Wednesday, September 15 that lasted until Sunday.
The bill would allow undocumented immigrants who entered the country before age 16 to receive in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. It also creates a path for students to become citizens by first legalizing their status and then checking their progress after six years. If theyve stayed in a bachelors degree program for at least two years or served two years in the U.S. military and have no criminal record, they can become permanent residents, and later, citizens.
Angela, an 18-year-old Colombian, moved to Queens five years ago with her parents, who had hoped to provide her a better education and a better future. Yet even if Angela can find a scholarship to help her pay steep Ivy League tuition bills, getting a job after school will be almost impossible without a visa.
"Hopefully by that time, Ill have my documents," said Angela.
A guidance counselors dream, she was fourth in her class at Queens International High School, student government president, active in clubs, voted most intelligent by her fellow classmates, and the winner of a two-year scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
But the DREAM Act has languished in the Senate since last October when it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), the Senate Majority leader, must present the bill before the Senate can vote on it, but hes not in a hurry. With the election coming up, lawmakers are avoiding issues as touchy and divisive as immigration.
Critics are worried the DREAM Act would be the first step toward the legalization of more undocumented immigrants, not just the straight-A students. The Federation for American Immigration Reform is among the bills detractors, claiming it will make college admissions and scholarships more competitive for students who are citizens.
Ana Maria Archila, executive director of the Latin American Immigration Center and one of the principal organizers of the fast in New York, asserts that the undocumented students deserve the same opportunities as other high school students. "These students arent people who arent living here. Their parents are working, paying taxes and contributing to the state. Were not talking about international students."
Angela says that her friends from high school "think of themselves as Americans." After graduation, most had to find low-wage jobs to help support their families. "They say hopefully one day theyll get to college," she said.
Angela and her friends dont have much time to wait. "Were tired. Our politicians are not giving us respect after we have studied really hard throughout high school and practically lived here all our lives," said Angela. "We are asking for respect."
E-mail this reporter at sarah@queenscourier.com .