Faced with sufficient internal opposition, the Rutgers University Student Assembly passed a bill Thursday urging Congress to pass an amendment allowing children of illegal immigrants better chances of attaining permanent residency and higher education.
"It offers an opportunity to these students who don't have a chance, at this point, to be fully contributing members of our society," said Christopher Keating, a Rutgers College junior. "The children of undocumented immigrants shouldn't be punished for crimes their parents committed."
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, better known as the "Dream Act," originally entered the Senate in 2003 as a way for undocumented students to pursue a degree at a public institution for at least two years while paying the more affordable in-state costs. But since it has come up again, it is now in need of as much support as possible, as its fate will be decided by Nov. 16 of this year.
This amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 states that on the successful completion of high school, undocumented students who came to the United States under the age of 16 and have displayed moral character will be able to attain permanent residency in six years if they either join the U.S. military or attend a higher institution for two years.
On the passage of the amendment, these students would also be eligible to receive previously unavailable benefits such as federal student loans and federal work-study.
As the RUSA Legislative Affairs Chair, Keating said he wrote the resolution in favor of the amendment because it now has its best chance to move through the senate, with support from the likes of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and he wanted to get the University behind it as well.
"I know the voice of the University students and [RUSA] will only do so much, but at the same time, it's still significant," Keating said. After much debate concerning the ethics of the amendment and its significance on students at the University, the resolution passed with 21 in favor, six against and one abstention. But its support - or in some cases, the lack thereof - still has RUSA members buzzing."I'm for educating the biggest amount of people possible, so if they're living here, growing up here, working here, then they should get an education here," said RUSA Corresponding Secretary Crystal Coache, a Douglass College junior.
After illegal immigrants attend school from kindergarten all the way to twelfth grade, Coache said she thought it was unfortunate they are then kept from pursuing a higher education, often because of financial reasons such as having to pay out-of-state tuition. She said this process of attaining permanent residency would allow them to more easily become fully contributing members of the community.
"An 8 or 9-year-old shouldn't be penalized for a situation that's not his fault, at that point it's just as much his country as it is anybody else's," she said.
Coache said she sees it as another way for the University to become more diverse, since these students will not be given any advantages in applying to colleges. The only difference is that they may be able to afford the schools they're accepted to now.
"It's still going to be the cream of the crop and they'll still be just as qualified," she said. "You need to look at how important of an issue immigration has become in the country. It would be great to have someone here who could speak personally on it, contributing to the conversation at the University."
Coache said the reservations voiced at the meeting did not add up for her, leading her to vote in favor of the bill.
"It will cause no tremendous strain on the state or the University, I actually think it will only benefit both, just adding to our rich legacy of diversity," she said.
However, Off-Campus Student Association RUSA Rep. Kevin Nedza, a Rutgers College junior, said it was partly because of a possible financial strain on University students and New Jersey residents that he spoke against the bill at the meeting.
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