Friday, October 5th I spoke with an aide to Senator Durbin regarding the issue of in-state tuition and the DREAM Act. I sincerely appreciate his time and willingness to provide information.
It is true that in-state tuition was negotiated out of the bill before Senator Reid announced that the DREAM ACT would be approved before November 16th.
Senator Durbin's office stated that apparently there is a problem with "states rights" and the implementation of a bill that rules that states have to allow DREAM ACT students in-state tuition - if the bill would have proceeded with the in-state tuition clause it might have hit some constitutional snags. So when it was left out as a compromise, the loss was not as large as most people thought. Although considering the way congressional politics go, this might not end up being totally accurate, but that is the information we have at this time.
Regardless of states rights, the DREAM ACT will bring sanity to the lives of thousands of undocumented young people. For those that have ALREADY completed their 2 years of college, this is be a life-saver. After meeting the other requirements (no criminal records, graduating from high school etc) they can apply for conditional residency.
For those who have not completed 2 years of college and live in a state that does not have in-state tuition, they either have to join the military to get the same benefit or pay international student rates.
There are millions of undocumented students in high school that will soon reach this crossroads. If an undocumented college graduate qualifies for the DREAM ACT, his/her younger sibling who is just finishing high school will be trapped As mentioned in a previous post, students like Juan Sebastain Gomez would be in a difficult situation if they live in one of the 40 states that do not have in-state tuition.
With high tuition bills facing them, they will have to join the military.
Some of my colleagues strongly believe that this caveat is fine as long as it helps the bill pass - that its unfortunate the undocumented students coming up later will not have such easy options. What is strategic for proponents of the bill in this form is that the military option will make the DREAM ACT viable at a time of brutal anti-immigrant sentiment.
Well now its here, with a good chance of being made into law. Of course everyone wants the bill to be implemented. Of course we want all the DREAM ACT students to regularize.
But what about those who will have to go to Iraq? What can we do for them? Options are limited. For those who can regularize, in a number of years they can become citizens and begin a nation-wide movement to change the terms of the DREAM ACT. But that is a very long time from now. We can also encourage young people who will enlist to study combat casualties in the different branches of service- which branch has less combat deaths? If you absolutely have to enlist - think of your safety.
Those of us who can vote and are relatives or friends of undocument students need to seriously consider banding together to help protect these young people from going to war. The Latino vote is very powerful. We could do a lot if we took interest. We could elect officials that would make the educational benefits of the DREAM available to all the undocumented students that qualify.
The DREAM ACT is great. It will change many lives. How many thousands of students will be able to work professionally, obtain drivers licenses, travel internationally, and most importantly not live in fear of an ICE raid?
Yes, I believe the DREAM ACT will pass. The military has too much to gain to let this opportunity go. Unfortunately any benefits enjoyed by DREAM ACT students will be tainted with blood.
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