National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

Issue Background Since 2001, NAKASEC has been organizing and educating the community on legislation such as the DREAM Act – a pending bill in Congress which would provide opportunities for undocumented immigrant students to pursue higher education and obtain legal status. Additionally, NAKASEC has worked to protect access to education for undocumented Korean Americans who are denied admission to public schools (K-12 & college/university) and denied in-state tuition exemption.

Recent Campaigns DREAM Graduation Ceremony, June 18, 2007 Organized by the United We DREAM Coalition in which NAKASEC is a steering committee member, immigrant students and their US-born peers from 14 states came together on Capitol Hill for the “Don’t Just DREAM, Act!” to say that their lives can’t be put on hold. Eight Korean American youth from NAKASEC and its affiliate youth groups joined with other students to urge Congress to pass the DREAM Act (S. 774 and HR 1275).

65 students participate in the graduation ceremony to represent the 65,000 talented students who graduate every year in need of the DREAM Act. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) was present to hand out diplomas to these students. Also in attendance were Representatives John Sarbanes (D-MD), Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and bill champion Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) who gave inspirational words of hope to the students. Other speakers represented a broad range of support from other sectors including DREAM students, Reggie Weaver, President of the National Education Association and Maria Elena Durazo Executive Secretary / Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

During the DC mobilization, the NAKASEC youth also met with Rep. Mark Kirk, Jan Schakowsky, Danny Davis, Dianne Feinstein, and Diane Watson. It was through the educational efforts of KRC, that Rep. Diane Watson, signed on the American DREAM Act for the first time in the history of the legislation.