These Dreamers have already graduated out of high schools and colleges some already w college degrees, but they cannot put to work their degrees because of their status. This video also would be helpful to all those opposing the DREAM Act stating that we should get in line to become legal. This is just what they have done.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Undocumented & Unafraid
These Dreamers have already graduated out of high schools and colleges some already w college degrees, but they cannot put to work their degrees because of their status. This video also would be helpful to all those opposing the DREAM Act stating that we should get in line to become legal. This is just what they have done.
Myths vs. Facts
A few nights ago sitting in a Starbucks I was trying to find something that would answer one of my questions based on American opinion. Would the DREAM Act be rewarding illegal behavior? I re-took my research though the web but this time looked at better sources such as the [.org] websites.
I came upon two very useful articles. One titled “Myth vs. Fact: The DREAM Act (No More Excuses on This Bill)” published recently in December 7th of 2010 by Marshall Fitz from the Center for American Progress. The second article was “Dispelling DREAM Act Myths” published by the Immigration Policy Center. Both articles lay out the myths and facts most people on the contrary side of this debate often use as reasons as to why the DREAM Act should NOT be passed. Some of these myths include:
America can’t afford the DREAM Act
The DREAM Act would reward illegal behavior
Passing the DREAM Act would encourage more illegal immigration
The DREAM Act would trigger large-scale “chain migration”
We have to secure the border before doing anything else on immigration, we can’t bother with issues like the DREAM Act when we have more pressing priorities
and
We need more time to analyze the DREAM Act
These are just some to name a few.
Both articles had my questions as some their myths to discuss about. Is the DREAM Act rewarding illegal behavior while contributing to the spur of illegal immigration? The answer both articles imply was no. The DREAM Act has a cut off dates that offer no incentives for more illegal immigration and in order to qualify for the DREAM Act a student must have entered the United States before the age of 16 and have lived in the U.S for at least five years before the date of enactment, with proof, leaving many who came after the cut-off-date not eligible. According to the article “Denying hope and opportunity is already a punishment for an act beyond their control. Enabling them to work hard and earn the privilege of citizenship is hardly “rewarding” illegal behavior. “The hypocrisy of some of the elected officials who would condemn these kids to marginalization is shameful. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who has confessed to moral waywardness, complaints with a straight face that these kids are subverting the rule of law”
Both articles and writers effectively address many misconceptions that I have been questioning non-supporters to give me a clear understanding of why they oppose this issue when clearly both these articles point out the opposite. It is a necessity, the U.S cannot afford not to pass the DREAM Act because the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO has done the analysis and has concluded that the DREAM Act would reduce the deficit by $2.2 billion over the next 10 years. More importantly the alternative of removing the 700,000 eligible kids would cost taxpayers $16.2 billion over five years. Both articles provide statistics to its research and correctively straight and accurate facts. But the Immigration Policy CenterCenter for American Progress does not include. At this point I am on the fence. If this is true and there is more evidence that the DREAM Act is a good thing and is indeed beneficial not only for undocumented immigrant but the country as well. Are Americans not being briefly informed and is this why they don’t support the issue? Also, where are they getting these misconceptions from? Are they even true? Is there evidence or research to their misconceptions and claims? I wonder if these articles are also favoring the DREAM Act to a point where they are only exposing the good things about the issue but not the negatives.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Post #3
As I began searching for evidence that might answers my questions, I felt overwhelmed to find a lot of information on immigration as a whole and what the DREAM Act constitutes of but haven’t been finding a lot of general American public opinion on this issue. My immediate source was the Poudre Library’s Academic Premier, where I easily located a vast variety of information on topics of immigration and the Dream Act along with some very powerful anecdotal journals from former DREAMers. Viewing the many scholarly sources offered I was not quite satisfied with the information found, which made me do some research on some organizational websites, comparing them with the CQ Researcher through Academic Premier.
The first article titled “Immigration Debate (Can Politicians find a way to curb illegal immigration?)” was published through CQ Researcher (a division of the Poudre Library’s Academic Premier) during 2008 and then updated in December of 2010. An article summarizing illegal immigration, analyzing the situation and a possible immigration reform. Towards the end of the article I found a section specifically on my topic: “Should illegal immigrants be allowed to attend public colleges and universities?” a brief space that is used to put forth FAIR’s view on the subject, versus the opponent side; The American Immigration Law Foundation. FAIR states that “[undocumented students] … are taking slots and huge amounts of public subsidies that would otherwise go to Americans or legal immigrants.” Raising the question whether as to: should illegal immigrants be banned colleges and universities all together? The American Immigration Law Foundation argues that the DREAM Act is a reasonable compromise that wouldn’t give undocumented/illegal immigrant students access to scholarships and grants. The states that do have in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants have not seen an increase in registration. According to the article the DREAM Act would “protect students and if we’re going to have them in this country because they aren’t going to leave the only place they’ve known as home, then we might as well embrace it and help them be as educated as possible”. "It would be helpful to our economy to have these kids get college degrees." A question that arose after reading this was “Are undocumented immigrants being subsidized in one way or another indirectly by the government and taxpayers? How many states would be willing to completely shut down higher education as a whole to undocumented immigrants? I would tend to believe that we as undocumented immigrant students paying the out-of-state tuition rate would be helping the government and our communities by putting more money back into the system. I thought this was where all or most public colleges and universities got the funds (other than government funds) to for their institutions. How would an American student feel about attending a class with a fellow undocumented classmate? Would they embrace it and help them be as educated as possible? Or would they favor colleges who would shut down higher education to undocumented students?
Searching for more information I came across an article titled “Can’t Kill This Dream” published by The Center for American Progress in December 7th of 2010. A brief article demonstrating that ever since the last Dream Act bill failed to pass by congress, the DREAM action didn’t flinch or stagnated. Instead they have come with more power than ever. They became bigger, louder and stronger by marching on the lame duck session with a singular purpose. These DREAMers are not letting politicians stump their dreams. The mobilization in support will not stop until the DREAM is reality to hundreds and thousands of people. In the past months they have been stepping out of their boxes and become more public and explicit about who they are and what they are fighting for. From hunger strikes that have generated mass media to galvanizing support from business and religious leaders in states across the U.S marching along with veterans. They have “outed” themselves publicly on national TV risking getting arrested and even deported. Reading this article made me see how strong these people are and how far they are willing to push themselves and do things that are so unthought-of, just so they can make their dreams come true.
Both articles although a bit different all came back to the same issue: the DREAM Act and why many want it to pass. These undocumented immigrant students may never be able to use their degree because of their status. The country wants more jobs to be made. Would the DREAM Act help create more jobs? What position would Americans take a stance on then? If undocumented immigrants were to have a way to become legalized, more lawyers would be needed. More judges and more cases would need to be reviewed which means more personnel would be needed. Also if they were able to do so, would they want to buy homes and cars? Would they send their children off to college and set up new businesses? Ideally this would be the best for the economy, but viewing this from the American standpoint on the conservative side I could argue that this is exactly what conservatives don’t want. I would feel somewhat angry and my first thought would be that the government isn’t setting their priorities straight. The government would seem to be favoring illegals before native born citizens. In no way would it create jobs, it would probably displace many because of competitiveness between legal and undocumented. Also if these dreamers were to benefit from the DREAM Act, they would start overcrowding colleges and universities. If they can get their degrees in the United States, but not work in their countries then that’s when they’d go back to their countries. As a conservative I’d ask: Are we the only ones with universities? Why don’t they study back home? Why does the U.S have to solve the problems these law-breaking individuals face? I would oppose the DREAM Act believing that in my own opinion that there are other important issues the American government needs to address before even considering undocumented immigrants.
Analyzing outside the thinking box, I can start to form a puzzle together. Without knowing many other reasons as to why Americans oppose the issue, I can quickly see the areas where they would backfire. Americans look out for their personal interest first and foremost. In the next blog I will research more about these misconceptions they would use to use as counter arguments.
Works Cited :
Greenblatt, A. (2008, February 1). Immigration debate. CQ Researcher, 18, 97-120.
Works Cited :
Friday, October 7, 2011
I Am An American
This video clip probably is one of my favorites. I can relate to Jose just like many others in our position. It got to me, making me feel nostalgic. I encourage you to watch this clip and leave some comments.
Welcome to a new conversation about immigration in our country.
To learn more, visit http://www.DefineAmerican.com
Define American is dedicated to changing the conversation about immigrants in America who are an inexorable part of our communities and our society. Founded by award-winning multimedia journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, Define American harnesses the power of storytelling and social media to bring about greater awareness of and support for immigration reform.
To learn more, visit http://www.DefineAmerican.com
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
What is the DREAM ACT?
I wanted to post a link for those who do not know what the Dream Act is or have not heard about it, are not aware of it or would just like to see the updated version. I chose this link because I believe it's from a very reliable source I have found online. I believe it's the most up-to-date overview of what it's all about.
( Click on the highlighted text )
Exploring more on this issue I was curious to find out the origin and background of the DREAM Act. Through some online research I came to find out that back in 1982, a Federal legislation was enacted. This legislation entitled all students to a public education for grades k-12. The same year, the Supreme Court upheld this legislation in the case known as Plyer v. Doe. This policy further guarantees all access to k-12 to free public education regardless of immigration or legal status. Yet this federal guarantee was not extended to students wishing to go onto a college or university.
Furthermore in 1996, there was a federal law called The Illegal Immigration Reform & Migrant Responsibility Act which prohibits states from providing a post-secondary education benefit to an alien not lawfully present unless any citizen or national is eligible for such benefit. The DREAM Act would amend the 1996 law.
Currently Virginia State Attorney General has prohibited any post-secondary institution from admitting students without documentation.
As far as personal knowledge I know that the DREAM Act has had a tough battle against congress for the past decade since 2000 or 2001. They have presented the bill at the table at least 13 times and the bill has been shut down 13 times.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Dream Act.. the rundown video
Durbin discusses why he wrote the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act would allow a select group of immigrant students with great potential to contribute more fully to America. These young people were brought to the U.S. as children and should not be punished for their parents' mistakes. The DREAM Act would give these students a chance to earn legal status if they:
1) Came to the U.S. as children (15 or under),
2) Are long-term U.S. residents (continuous physical presence for at least five years),
3) Have good moral character,
4) Graduate from high school or obtain a GED, and
5) Complete two years of college or military service in good standing.
1) Came to the U.S. as children (15 or under),
2) Are long-term U.S. residents (continuous physical presence for at least five years),
3) Have good moral character,
4) Graduate from high school or obtain a GED, and
5) Complete two years of college or military service in good standing.
The Nightmare Act
As I mentioned in my previous post I wanted to find out the reasons or motives why a lot of people from the other side of this issue see the DREAM ACT as either a divided or an unacceptable issue.
In “In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students” author Katherine, at Legal Language from Legal Language Services gives an overview of how things go down in higher education systems. How undocumented students can qualify for In-State tuition and how this can help undocumented students. The introduction quickly drew me in with its statistic: “of the 2.8 million students that graduate from high school every year, about 65,000 are undocumented students. For many of the 65,000, it is where their education in America ends”. I think her use of statistics was good but I was wish she would have had more. Like how many of those graduates actually attend college while paying out-of state tuition? Nevertheless it left me with new information about how many undocumented students graduate each year something that I didn’t know about. At the end of her article she points out a paragraph that focuses on one of my main questions: “Why Are People Divided About Giving In-State Tuition to Undocumented Students?”
The author states that those who oppose the DREAM ACT and in-state tuition feel/believe that it rewards illegal behavior while encouraging illegal immigration making U.S taxpayers to be contributing to the education “of young adults living here against the law”. I can see why Americans would label them indirectly as criminals if they are here illegally. It makes sense coming from their stance. I ask myself “Are U.S Citizens only considered taxpayers?” Are undocumented immigrants not considered taxpayers regardless of all the years they’ve lived in the U.S and have contributed to the economy by paying taxes? Do most Americans believe that undocumented/illegal people get away without paying taxes? What am I considered if I pay taxes to support the education of other “criminals” like myself who wish to pursue higher education? This raised another question that I want to search for. Who is considered a taxpayer in the U.S? Does it reward illegal behavior by letting young adults have access to higher education and how? I wonder if Legal Language Services can be trusted. I like the article it brought forth new insights but I am not sure if they are for or against this issue. Could they be biased?
The author states that those who oppose the DREAM ACT and in-state tuition feel/believe that it rewards illegal behavior while encouraging illegal immigration making U.S taxpayers to be contributing to the education “of young adults living here against the law”. I can see why Americans would label them indirectly as criminals if they are here illegally. It makes sense coming from their stance. I ask myself “Are U.S Citizens only considered taxpayers?” Are undocumented immigrants not considered taxpayers regardless of all the years they’ve lived in the U.S and have contributed to the economy by paying taxes? Do most Americans believe that undocumented/illegal people get away without paying taxes? What am I considered if I pay taxes to support the education of other “criminals” like myself who wish to pursue higher education? This raised another question that I want to search for. Who is considered a taxpayer in the U.S? Does it reward illegal behavior by letting young adults have access to higher education and how? I wonder if Legal Language Services can be trusted. I like the article it brought forth new insights but I am not sure if they are for or against this issue. Could they be biased?
Another article that I found was surprising. It was a taste of what I was exactly looking for: personal comments from many people who are on the opposition side. These readers have read an article that was published by the Los Angeles Times and are now strongly responding against it.
The Article “Opinion L.A, Observations and Provocations from The Times’ opinion staff” regarding comments on the initial article “California Dream Act, part two: Rewarding illegal actions? [Most Commented]” published September 16, 2011 by The Los Angeles Times overviews the initial article’s point; the editorial board who recently wrote to encourage Gov. Jerry Brown to sign AB 131(the second part of the California Dream Act). AB 131 would allow undocumented/illegal students to earn degrees but still would not have the right to work here. According to the article, only congress has the power to pass such legislation providing a path to legalization and a green card. Hence the fact that many politicians are opposed to it. Readers responded to the opposition of the bill. Here are some quotes that I found very noteworthy to discuss.
“America needs to deport all illegals to reduce unemployment/ poverty rate. California Nightmare act steals money for law-abiding tax payers and gives it to thieves. These scholarship should help educate Americans and legal immigrants.”—PDXOregon
“This will cost (estimated at $38 million) our bankrupt State, will cost Legal Students by denying them places in higher education, and a loss of financial aid and put Illegal Alien Students to the front of the line defying the rule of law.”–DonHonda
Although I have not read the initial article entirely, it leaves me to point out some things right out of the bat. AB 131 would let undocumented students earn a degree but not have the right to work or execute their career? Don’t we currently have that situation across the country?
Undocumented students already have the option of going to college and attending while paying the out-of-state tuition and getting their degree. Yet when they graduate there is no way for them to go into the workforce. Is it necessary to make a law for a situation that currently goes on? Why also make a law that lets one earn a degree but prohibits the right to work in their field? Is it necessary?
Regarding the quote from individual –PDXOregon all I have to say is:
Regarding the quote from individual –PDXOregon all I have to say is:
“How would deporting all illegals reduce unemployment/poverty rate?” Is this statement backed up with evidence and research? And would it actually reduce unemployment/poverty rate? Don Honda also stated that Americans would be “putting Illegal Alien Students to the front of the line defying the rule of law. I wonder in what way would we be put in front of the line? Are undocumented immigrants being put in front of the line before others? Or would it be more of a competition against one another?
Another quote that I would like to search into more into is the following:
“First citizenship, then the benefits that come with it
READ MY POST ABOVE ---they do not want to be LEGAL. ! GET LEGAL GET NOTHING. Show me where ANY of them have applied for citizenship. Smart enough for college, smart enough to find the immigration office. Smart enough for law school, the smart enough to FOLLOW THE LAW. -- cm mom”
This raised more question for me; “Do Americans think undocumented immigrants don’t wish to be legalized?” Do most have the idea that it’s a simple task? What is making them have this viewpoint? I would really like to find that out but also look into how hard is it for immigrants to get legalized in the U.S. I still need to know other reasons as to why people oppose this. This was a good discussion article because it derived of off people’s interests and personal beliefs but I would like more defined research based opinions.
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