Friday, August 8, 2008

Fixing one DREAMer is not enough

This Editorial piece nails right on the point that many have been trying to make for a very long time. Now, I am writing from the perspective of another DREAMer looking at the stories of Marie Gonzalez, Arthur Mkoyan for example, and many other DREAMers who have become poster children for our cause.

I think that it is pretty great that Arthur has gotten a private bill sponsored and thus allowed to stay in order to get his education worked out. I also think that it is amazing that Marie has been allowed to stay after many battles in order to finish her college years... but this is not enough. There are many, MANY wonderful, outstanding, and incredible DREAMers that just like Arthur deserve a private bill sponsored in their names. There are many more who also deserve an education to be sponsored by anyone that would come to meet them and know the super human beings that they are.

At the end, one is not enough.


You might recall the story of Arthur Mkoyan, who came to Fresno as a 2-year-old from Armenia and graduated as his high school valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA.

He was accepted to the University of California, Davis, where he planned to major in chemistry. But his parents were unable to get legal status, so the family was about to be deported to Armenia, a country Mkoyan doesn't know.

Happily, Mkoyan got something of a reprieve. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a private bill, temporarily stopping his family's deportation. While the legislation is pending, the government cannot send the family back to Armenia. So Mkoyan can go on with his life, for now. His lack of legal status, however, means he cannot get state or federal loans to go to UC Davis, which costs about $25,000 a year.

But Mkoyan got lucky again. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that a Danville resident, Sherry Heacox, will pay the cost for him to be educated at UC Davis.

The Senate should revive the DREAM Act and pass it. It's not enough to fix the situation for only one kid.



Rest of article

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