Students join debate on DREAM Act

Blair ESOL students and staff met on Apr 28 at the Langley Park community center to support a Maryland state bill that will give in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who have attended a Maryland secondary school for at least three years.

The town meeting included Congressmen Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Ciro Rodriguez of Texas, who both support the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act in the House of Representatives and wish to follow Maryland's lead.

On Apr 5, the Maryland legislature passed its version of the DREAM Act, granting undocumented immigrants in-state tuition for Maryland colleges. Although the bill was passed in the Maryland General Assembly, there is no guarantee that Governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr. will sign it, according to Maryland State Delegate Peter Franchot. This uncertainty has led immigrants such as senior Yudi Rodriguez, one of the ESOL students who spoke at the meeting, to campaign for the bill.

At the meeting, Rodriguez described the importance of education to her and her fellow immigrants. "It is a dream that everyone has, to be knowledgeable. In America that means you are important in society, and you are powerful when you have an education," she said. "Undocumented immigrants should not be punished for decisions their parents made."

ESOL teacher Sandra Gutierrez agreed, arguing that the federal government already ignores the rights of immigrants and the issue of their education. "The government is sending the wrong message, and it is going to cost them in the long run," Gutierrez said. "If the Latino community cannot help themselves through education, then they will become a greater burden to the government through social security and welfare," she said.

Franchot supports the Maryland bill because it provides all Maryland students with an education, no matter what their residency status is. "These kids are Maryland kids. They did not have a choice to [illegally] come to America, and they should not be punished for that. They should at least have the opportunities that every American dreams of," he said.

Although the bill was passed in Maryland, it is still being discussed at the national level. According to Krista Kafer, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a research institution in Washington, D.C., the fact that Maryland legislature passed the bill does not guarantee it will be passed in the Republican-controlled federal Congress. "I do not think there is any hope that the DREAM Act will be passed, especially considering the climate on Capital Hill recently," Kafer said. "The people who oppose this bill do not want to keep immigrants down, because that would be horrible, but it comes down to a sense that citizen benefits belong to citizens."

Currently, many illegal immigrants are unable to afford the out-of-state tuition of public Maryland schools. The average cost for attending a public university or college in America is $7,302 a year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The Urban Institute estimates 50,000 to 65,000 undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for five years or more graduate from high school yearly.

Similar state bills are being developed across the country. On May 1, Governor Mark Warner of Virginia vetoed a Republican- backed bill that barred undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition.