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[THE DREAM ACT] Try being undocumented and trapped in a comm

Title: Try being undocumented and trapped in a community college
Author: Diego Ramirez
Publisher: Pacific News Service
Date Published: March 23, 2006

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Try being undocumented and trapped in a community college
by Diego Ramirez

SAN JOSE, Calif. - This week I find myself starting community college. This might not seem like such a big deal, but to those who know me, it is a strange move. That's because this past June I received my associate's degree from another community college.

Normally, I would be transferring to a four-year university. It's not my academic standing that's preventing me from moving forward -- I have taken all of my lower-division requirements for my graphic-design major and maintained a 3.3 GPA. It's my immigration status.
I came over from Mexico City with my mother in the fall of 1990, crossing the U.S.-Mexican border with the help of a "coyote." I was 5 years old. Since I am not a legal citizen of the United States, I am not entitled to receive any type of financial aid from the government. This includes both grants and loans. In many states (though not in California, where I live), students who are not legal residents are also required to pay out-of-state tuition to go to college in the state where they live.

Going to a four-year university would run me about $1,600 a semester in tuition alone. Add on things like books -- not to mention living expenses -- and this equals a financial nightmare for me. If I want to keep on learning, the only alternative I have is to go back to community college -- again. This time around I am taking a Chicano Literature class and studying Italian, just in case this nation allows me to travel outside its borders one day.

My goal is to continue to learn just for the sake of learning. For me, it is a test of my integrity. At the same time, my immigration status makes my future in the full-time workforce uncertain. I have been working in the design field for about three years now, doing work for non-profits, individuals and small organizations. Most of these people know my situation and understand that talent and place of birth have nothing to do with each other.

I have thought a lot about what I am going to do when it comes time to enter the "real" work force, when the clients I want to work for will not be small, and likely will mind my immigration status. I ask myself, then what? I guess I am just hoping that the lawmakers of this nation will realize that people like myself deserve the chance to better ourselves and make a contribution. After all, I have accomplished so much, even with the handicap of being an illegal immigrant.

There is a piece of federal legislation called the DREAM Act that would give people like me equal access to higher education, and allow us to pursue permanent residence. This piece of legislation would change my life and those of many others. It would allow us to receive that higher learning that we seek, and give us the opportunity to do something with it after we graduate.

This act has been turned down once, but I have to believe it will be reintroduced and passed, and I and many others will get our chance to realize our dreams. I guess that's why they call it a DREAM Act.

I have lived in this country for almost 16 years, and I have done no harm to it. I would like the same opportunities those who are born here receive.

My own dream would be to go to a university and receive my BFA in graphic design. My mother always told me that if I want something badly enough, I can't let anything get in the way of obtaining it.

For now, knowledge is my prize. I will keep on learning as long as I can, even if I stay within the community college circuit for the rest of my days. And I will keep on dreaming. Copyright PNS

Editor's note: Diego Ramirez, 20, is a contributor to Silicon Valley Debug (www.siliconvalleydebug.org), a voice for young artists and workers, writers and artists in Silicon Valley.

Submitted by Annonymous. Thanks.

[This message was automatically generated.]

I am sure many of us can relate to this story. I can specifically relate to the following statement.

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For me, it is a test of my integrity.

thats the story of all of us

Reading your post, following the flow of your words, it is obvious that you are a bright articulate young man with much to offer if given the chance. Having followed many of the threads both here and on COSA, much the same could be said about many of its's members.

You want Dream...as an American, I could support Dream, would under the right circumstances would support it, but currently can not see myself making such and endorsement. From my perspective, the problem arises not in what you seek, but in who you have decided to throw your chips in with...as one COSA member said, if comprehensive immigration reform goes the way most illegals would like to see it go, your issues become moot. If the Senate passes and enforcement only bill, or some kind of a mixed bag of tricks, there is a great chance that Dream goes by the wayside.

As I am well aware of, when you came to America (for the most part), it was not something you had a say in, you were brought here, and in that, you have a unique cause that I personally think gets tainted when you support some of the political platform of those who chose and choose to come here daily knowing they are breaking our laws. I think I read on COSA where dream would have a positive effect on some 65,000 young adults in situations like yours...it is a lot easier to consider Amnesty, even affordable in state tuition for 65,000 than for 12-15 million, most of which came here by choice, choose to break our laws.

Americans are not without compassion, contrary to how some portray us, we have a heart. Children should not be held accountable for their parents actions...BUT, if those children begin making wrong choices, chosing the wrong side in a debate of this magnitude, it could hold costs they had not counted on, could create a sitituaiton where something within their grasp gets stolen away by being on the wrong side of a debate.

I hear it said, that Mexicans take jobs WE AMERICANS DON'T WANT...as a landscaper, I resent that remark, and contest it based on personal experience. I routinely lose out on work because illegal aliens have brought a wage scale to the industry that I cannot compete with as a self employed person. A large landscaping company hiring day laborers has me at a great disadvantage, so I lose work. I have friends of mine, small contractors that do home renovation work...they are in the same boat. All of us resent being quantified as LAZY AMERICANS. We have had our backs pushed against a wall, it seems to have become and all or none war with no chance of FAIR compromise...your side demands 12-15 million illegals be given a path to citizenship, and sorry but that is not fair. If our side said something like...hey, we need to make a living ourselves, lets split the difference, and 6 million of you can stay, but the rest have to go home we'd be called selfish racist's.

Let's talk for a moment about RESPECT. I own a house in a small middle class neighborhood, most of the homes are single family, a few are duplexs. Some of us own our homes, some rent. We were a happy community ,had no problems, there was adequate parking on the streets. Then, three large houses in our community were bought up and the owner started renting them out to illegal alien day laborers. Without being mean here, we here in America DO NOT LIVE 30 to a house, we in fact having zoning laws that forbide it. our infrastructure and community was not designed to handle that many people living under one roof. Where there used to be two cars, we now have 12-15, and that now means often times I find myself having to park two-three blocks from my house and walk home in a snow storm. Do you really think it fair that I pay over $5,000 a year in taxes on my home, and cannot park in front of my house? How am I supposed to percieve they people and the culture they represent when they get drunk and throw their beet bottles in the flower beds I work hard to maintain in front of my house? How am I supposed to react towards them when they seem to have no problems urinating out in front of their house for all the world to see? How am I supposed to react when I come home from work and find out they have been using my hose and my water to wash THEIR CARS? In my neighborhood, we pay for our water, and imagine my shock the first time my water bill was four times what it normally was...now I have to keep my out door faucets turned off in my basement, turning them on only when I need to water the lawn. I have outdoor lighting all around my house, lawn furniture in my back yard. I woke up one night at two in the morning needing a snack. When I went down to the kitchen, imagine my shock when five of these illegal's were IN MY BACK YARD sitting in MY FURNITURE drinking beers! None of this has led to our community being endeared to the cause of the illegal aliens plight, and yet when we bring up these real life issues, we are again called bigots and racists.

My thoughts on Dream...it would have a LOT BETTER CHANCE of being enacted if you put distance between your agenda, and the agenda of those who as adults chose to break our laws.

Pinto Bean

We understand your point of view but the problem is that we also want enforcement as well as something that will take care of this mess. I know that your tax dollars paid for my basic education, but the thing is, it is not right to deny a basic education to a child, whether or not he is a "criminal" as some of you have labeled us. How hard is it to convict a child of a crime! Think about that for a second. Some Americans say, "Why are *my* dollars going to someone who does not deserve it, namely, a child that is *illegal*?"

Explain to me why that is being "good". I don't see you can argue that it is immoral to do so, and sorry, but this also brings in the question of morality.

Now, since America has already invested on us, it would not really make sense if we were just to be kicked out. Also, some of you might say, go back and apply. For some of us, that is impossible, since, for example, I have already applied through the LIFE Act 245i and if I leave the country, I cannot enter in 10 years. I will be done with anyways when I turn 21 because of the "aging" out factor.

Have you now learned something new?

I know American friends who know me and about my situation, and they frankly believe that I should be an US citizen. Were you to know me, without a doubt, you would think the same.

The main point you were trying to make in your post seems to be that we should not support legislatures such as McCain and Kennedy's, meaning amnesty for all 11 million here. And the answer is we dont. We support Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy because they cosponsor the DREAM Act. I honestly think that their bill has no chance if not in the Senate then in the House, because it is way different from what the other half of the debate wants.

What we do hope is that the DREAM Act is ammended to a comprehensive immigration reform bill, whatever it might be. And there are only a few Senators, Kennedy, McCain and Durbin being some of them, that can actually introduce such an ammendment. All we want is for them to still have a word and to stay in the debate. Simply because DREAM will never happen if people like Senator Tancredo or Senator Cornyn dominate the Senate. They simply shut their eyes to our problem and point their finger screaming "illegal, get out!".

In the same way that you resent being called a "LAZY AMERICAN" we resent being called an "ILLEGAL ALIEN".
From our perspective, your group and ours, are equally American.

You are not one of us till the law makes you such.

[deleted]

This thread is now locked.