An eager audience listened intently as six guest speakers explained their role in the newly passed California DREAM Act. The DREAM Act, enacted by Gov. Jerry Brown in July 2011, will provide private scholarships and government funding starting Jan. 1, 2012 to students who were brought into California illegally by their parents.
To qualify for the act students must have attended a California high school for at least three years. The act allows undocumented students to apply for and receive scholarships. The act will also enable California undocumented students to receive private college financial aid beginning Jan. 1 2013. However, all available funding will only be accessible to current high school students. “There is still a long journey ahead,” said A.S. Vice President of Advocacy Michelle Dowling.
The first guest speaker was Michael Allen, a California Assembly member of the seventh District and co-author of the DREAM Act bill. “What you want in a country are people who want to immigrate,” Allen said. He talked about the majority of Republicans that are fighting against the DREAM Act. “This is a land where we want social mobility. People have hope, we thrive with brain power.”
Laura Lopez is an undergraduate student without financial aid. Her siblings and parents are documented, but she is not. Despite her disadvantage, Lopez graduated in the top ten percent of her high school class, and later graduated from UC Santa Cruz with honors. Today she’s contributing to private fundraising for undocumented students like herself who never received support from the government.
Tiffany Renée is the first Latina member in the Petaluma City Council. She was the first in her family to go to college, earning a bachelor’s degree and master’s. “When we have a strong workforce, and a well educated community, we have a thriving local economy,” Renée said.
50 percent of Latino students are unable to pass the CAHSEE in Sonoma County, which negatively affects our county. The money going into the DREAM Act will come back to the local economy, repairing roads and schools.
“The difference between not having a high school degree and having a bachelor’s degree is $35,000,” Renée said. “It creates a real drain to improve the quality of life.”
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocate Steve Fabian said that the most important liberty is equality. Starting in 2001, the first federal DREAM Act was born. The ACLU opened an office in Fresno dedicated to the DREAM Act. He encouraged everyone to vote, and to talk to people about the act.
“When people have to face an issue, it changes how people vote,” Fabian said. A UCLA study of the DREAM Act showed if the act passes it will bring $1.4 million to $3.6 million in taxable income to the California economy. “It would have a huge effect on economy,” Fabian said.
Mexican-born Karla Marquez realized after getting her foreign language degree from UC Davis that she was unable to travel outside the country or return because of her undocumented status. “People come for a different life, something rewarding in the long run,” Marquez said.
Marquez’s childhood experience with deportation services led her to realize “privilege can be taken away.” Marquez is part of the Napa Valley DREAM Act Coalition; Napa has one of the lowest graduation rates in California and consists largely of Latinos. “Advocacy for dreamers means advocacy for the whole community. People have forgotten that everyone migrated here, but now it’s more difficult to come and stay. Ellis Island has been replaced by detention centers,” Marquez said.
“This is not a Mexican Movement,” said Jesus Guzman of the DREAM Act Alliance of Sonoma County. “The DREAM Act is for all undocumented people, not a specific race because people from all over the world want to come here. People come out of the shadows and tell their stories,” Guzman said.
Currently the alliance is organizing five people to walk from San Francisco to Washington D.C.. Guzman asked “Are they undocumented because they’re in the U.S. or Americans that happen to be undocumented?”