The President of Hunter College is standing behind the DREAM Act. How can we get others to do the same?
A Path to Citizenship
Published: March 22, 2009
To the Editor:
Re “Family Stories as Secret Text for Immigrants” (news article, March 16):
The classroom stories that Hunter College students report about the extraordinary sacrifices their immigrant parents have made on their behalf offer a deep insight into the lengths people will go to bring their children better lives. The cumulative impact provides a powerful argument for passage of the Dream Act, which Congress is expected to reconsider later this year.
The Dream Act would offer a chance for citizenship to those who were brought to this country illegally as children on the condition that they complete high school and finish college or serve two years in the military. Passage would give thousands of undocumented men and women, who otherwise face very bleak futures, a chance to step out of the shadows and become taxpayers and citizens of the only country they have really ever known.
I am proud of the Hunter students who persuaded their parents to disclose often painful secrets about what they left behind and what they endured to get their start in America, and I am proud of Prof. Nancy Foner for organizing and conducting the honors seminar that makes this possible.
The stories deserve to become part of the debate over the Dream Act, for they are dramatic proof of how greatly immigrants enrich our nation and how much we need to rationalize their path to citizenship.
Jennifer J. Raab
President, Hunter College
New York, March 17, 2009
link to this letter
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