Scholars program runs into immigration quandary

Here in an article about the Kauffman Scholars program which mentions the DREAM ACT.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/877199.html

Scholars program runs into immigration quandary

By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

The Kauffman Scholars program, the legacy of Project Choice, has run into one of the stickiest areas of the country’s immigration quandaries — how to treat children whose parents brought them here illegally.

The eight-person board overseeing the Kauffman Scholars is ducking for cover from this very real issue for educators. The board voted last year to deny college funds for these students, basically reneging on a promise it made years ago to some local students.

Now, as the first class approaches graduation, those students who are not legally in the U.S. are being told that their college will not be funded. Some Hispanic leaders have been unsuccessfully haggling with Kauffman Scholar executives for months about the lost funds.

“It is an issue of fairness,” said Gilberto Guerrero, associate director with the Guadalupe Centers.

Kauffman Scholars helps low-income students achieve through middle and high school and go on to college with mentoring and tutoring.

Since 2003, hundreds of youngsters in the Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City school districts have been chosen and began the program as seventh-graders. They form contracts with Kauffman, pledging to stay out of trouble, keep their grades up and perform community service. Their parents agree to attend meetings as well.

In return, Kauffman promises to make up whatever college tuition expenses the student can’t cover by other sources. The goal is graduating with a degree in hand and debt-free.

Apparently, some Kauffman Scholar officials feared being held complicit in illegal immigration, a concern pounded into them at a national conference. It’s an unlikely scenario for a couple of reasons.

Kansas is one of a handful of states with laws allowing these kids to pay in-state college rates, rather than judging them as foreign students, who are often charged three times as much in fees. And the new U.S. Congress is expected to finally pass legislation (DREAM Act) that would clear up the thorny issue of their legality by giving the students who can make it to college or into the military a conditional route to legal status.

It should be noted that the Kauffman name and brand of caring has created immeasurable good in this community. But this is fear-based decision-making at its finest.

The Kauffman board is also likely reluctant to face a public backlash. Any positive mention of an immigrant, legal or illegal, can stir Internet postings and voice mails — often in vile language — to essentially “go back where you came from.”

But if Kauffman needs a lure to do the right thing, here it is. There has never been a “safer” time to be a voice for these students. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged support for the DREAM Act. Sen. John McCain co-sponsored a version of it.

The act recognizes that most of these students did not create their situations. In fact, some arrived as small children and sometimes do not realize their illegal status until they begin applying for college.

A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said undocumented students have to be educated, through the 12th grade. To deny them would be relegating them to a “lifetime of hardship.” But college has been more of an open question.

A viable solution to Kauffman’s problem has been offered by the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which has delivered close to $2 million in scholarships to local youth in its nearly 25-year history. Funnel the already-earned Kauffman college funds through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, allowing it to make the grants to the children, therefore distancing the skittish Kauffman.

This would keep Kauffman’s promise to this year’s graduates and buy Kauffman some time until Congress acts.

Knowing how many students are affected among the approximately 1,300 Kauffman Scholars is harder to gauge. The issue also highlights a much-misunderstood aspect of illegal immigration: Illegal today may not be so tomorrow.

Some students already may have an avenue to become legal, although the process is often very slow. Some are awaiting paperwork to come through, placing them in a legal limbo of sorts.

Which makes the Kauffman board’s decision that much harsher; some sixth-graders will now be discouraged from applying because of their legal status today, despite it likely being different by the time they graduate.

Anecdotally, some undocumented students wind up leading their classes. Their stellar performance is part of the immigrant tale for these kids. Many can retell horrific stories of seeing their parents risk their lives to get the family across the border, with the hope of a better life. They feel they owe a debt for the sacrifice and the opportunity. Getting straight A’s becomes their way of repaying their parents.

Yes, it would have been far more desirable had these students arrived legally. But that was not a decision within their control. And anyone who still believes legal arrival for poorer Latinos is as simple as paying fees, filling out applications, needs a lesson in Immigration 101.

Hopefully, Kauffman is not brash enough to brag about the valedictorians who are Kauffman Scholars this year. At least one of them is on its do-not-fund list.

Interesting how the author mentions how the DREAM Act is expected to finally be passed. Man I hope the author is right.

I hope she is right also. I am thinking about calling all the new senators and some of the dems who voted against it last time about their positions now.

Dang it doesn't seam like a long time since the first dream act was discussed and now they are talking about how it is "expected to finally pass".....Its been a long time! How long? 5 or 6 years? Dang! LOL

Leave positive comments for the writer.

Well they were expecting dream to pass the last go round as well, so yeah...