On Thursday, February 7th, I attended the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center's panel in which students spoke of their experiences as a student that holds the identity of being a Dreamer or undocumented. For those who might not know, a Dreamer is "a young person who qualifies for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act" (Hildreth 2018). This Act is a piece of a legislation that was introduced first in Congress in 2001 but was never passed. The purpose of the Dream Act was to create a way for young people whose parents brought them to the U.S. without documentation when they were minors to eventually receive citizenship. The Act was never passed so in 2010, former president Barack Obama passed DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). DACA allows applicants to request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years. DACA is subject to renewal and does not give recipients official lawful status. "Deferred action" means that people that hold DACA will be protected from deportation for two years and are in danger of being deported after those two years are up. An important point that the students on the panel brought up is the fact that not all Dreamers are DACA recipients especially now that President Trump chose to end it back in 2017. By the beginning of 2019, former DACA recipients will no longer be protected from deportation. Some Dreamers are recipients of Temporary Protected Status. Temporary Protected Status is granted to persons of certain countries that are experiencing problems that place their nationals at risk of being deported there or that would compromise the foreign government's ability absorb the return of its nationals ("Temporary Protected..." 2018). The certain countries must fall under the category of hardships such as confronting: 1) an ongoing conflict, 2) environmental disaster, 3) or extraordinary and temporary conditions. TPS holders are able to work legally in the U.S. and live within the country without fear of deportation for 6, 12, or 18 months at a time ("Temporary Protected..." 2018). This status can easily change depending on the Secretary of Homeland Security's assessment of the national's foreign country's status ("Temporary Protected..." 2018).
Of course the reality of deportation is scary for all Dreamers, but it seems to be especially scary for college students that are trying to navigate the world of higher education without documentation. The point of the panel that I attended was not only to discuss the problems that come with being undocumented, but also how other identities that Dreamers hold impact their agency as they pursue their degrees. Some of the panelists spoke on their identity as first generation students. The panelists commented that they had originally been concerned about possibly not being able to attend college because they 1) didn't know how to navigate the process for applying to college as someone who was undocumented and 2) didn't know how they were going to financially afford to pay for college since undocumented students are unable to receive federal financial aid. It might sound redundant to say but the parents of Dreamers are undocumented themselves. This means that they lack the experience of navigating the world of higher education (at least in the U.S.) and are not fully equipped to help their children on their higher education journey. The journey becomes even more difficult for these students when most schools across the country lack the support that Dreamers and DACA recipients need. Not many institutions are equipped to supply resources for their undocumented students so many undocumented students are forced to struggle to find resources on their own. Thankfully there are scholarships and small organizations and groups of people across the nation that are dedicated to helping undocumented students, but I find it ironic that a poll done in 2017 showed that majority of people are in support of DACA and yet there are so little resources to actually support DACA recipients. Why is it that our schools are not accommodating of undocumented students although people claim to support them? Is it a lack of education on the matter? Or is it the historic idea that immigrants should have the opportunity to build themselves, but they should not be easily awarded the same tools that natural born citizens have?
A couple of the panelists brought up the fact that their identity of being Latinx has an impact on how people engage the conversation of immigration and documentation. With the current political climate regarding immigration and the border wall, there has been a lot of anti-immigration rhetoric that has targeted Latinx communities (although Dreamers and undocumented individuals consist of more than just the Latinx community). Much of this rhetoric has placed immigrants in negative lighting which is unfair and inaccurate and prevents us from even really asking ourselves any meaningful questions.
Getting to the bottom of the important questions like the ones I previously asked is definitely an important step into figuring out how to help Dreamers and undocumented persons. As a panelist stated (and all the other panelists agreed), a couple of ways to get the process going is by educating oneself on the issues and having more conversations around them.
As an add-on, I think it is important that people understand that for these students, gaining citizenship is (for the most part) not a possibility. The most important step of gaining citizenship is obtaining a green card, but to do so one must either be sponsored by an employer (which they aren't allowed to work legally) or have a close relative that has citizenship seek permission to have the undocumented brought in to the States. Most undocumented students do not have close relatives that have citizenship so getting a green card is impossible. With no clear possibility of becoming a legal U.S. citizen but having lived most of their lives here and being a part of American society, it is clear that deportation is not an appropriate answer to this situation. How can a Dreamer or undocumented person ever hope to achieve citizenship when they don't have any viable options in their situations?
Works Cited:
Hildreth, Matt. “Immigration 101: What Is a Dreamer?” America's Voice, 14 Jan. 2018, americasvoice.org/blog/what-is-a-dreamer/.
“Temporary Protected Status: An Overview.” American Immigration Council, 29 Aug. 2018, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview.
“Why Can't 'Dreamers' Just Apply For Citizenship?” WCCO | CBS Minnesota, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, 5 Sept. 2017, minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/09/05/gq-dreamers-citizenship/.
Of course the reality of deportation is scary for all Dreamers, but it seems to be especially scary for college students that are trying to navigate the world of higher education without documentation. The point of the panel that I attended was not only to discuss the problems that come with being undocumented, but also how other identities that Dreamers hold impact their agency as they pursue their degrees. Some of the panelists spoke on their identity as first generation students. The panelists commented that they had originally been concerned about possibly not being able to attend college because they 1) didn't know how to navigate the process for applying to college as someone who was undocumented and 2) didn't know how they were going to financially afford to pay for college since undocumented students are unable to receive federal financial aid. It might sound redundant to say but the parents of Dreamers are undocumented themselves. This means that they lack the experience of navigating the world of higher education (at least in the U.S.) and are not fully equipped to help their children on their higher education journey. The journey becomes even more difficult for these students when most schools across the country lack the support that Dreamers and DACA recipients need. Not many institutions are equipped to supply resources for their undocumented students so many undocumented students are forced to struggle to find resources on their own. Thankfully there are scholarships and small organizations and groups of people across the nation that are dedicated to helping undocumented students, but I find it ironic that a poll done in 2017 showed that majority of people are in support of DACA and yet there are so little resources to actually support DACA recipients. Why is it that our schools are not accommodating of undocumented students although people claim to support them? Is it a lack of education on the matter? Or is it the historic idea that immigrants should have the opportunity to build themselves, but they should not be easily awarded the same tools that natural born citizens have?
A couple of the panelists brought up the fact that their identity of being Latinx has an impact on how people engage the conversation of immigration and documentation. With the current political climate regarding immigration and the border wall, there has been a lot of anti-immigration rhetoric that has targeted Latinx communities (although Dreamers and undocumented individuals consist of more than just the Latinx community). Much of this rhetoric has placed immigrants in negative lighting which is unfair and inaccurate and prevents us from even really asking ourselves any meaningful questions.
Getting to the bottom of the important questions like the ones I previously asked is definitely an important step into figuring out how to help Dreamers and undocumented persons. As a panelist stated (and all the other panelists agreed), a couple of ways to get the process going is by educating oneself on the issues and having more conversations around them.
As an add-on, I think it is important that people understand that for these students, gaining citizenship is (for the most part) not a possibility. The most important step of gaining citizenship is obtaining a green card, but to do so one must either be sponsored by an employer (which they aren't allowed to work legally) or have a close relative that has citizenship seek permission to have the undocumented brought in to the States. Most undocumented students do not have close relatives that have citizenship so getting a green card is impossible. With no clear possibility of becoming a legal U.S. citizen but having lived most of their lives here and being a part of American society, it is clear that deportation is not an appropriate answer to this situation. How can a Dreamer or undocumented person ever hope to achieve citizenship when they don't have any viable options in their situations?
Works Cited:
Hildreth, Matt. “Immigration 101: What Is a Dreamer?” America's Voice, 14 Jan. 2018, americasvoice.org/blog/what-is-a-dreamer/.
“Temporary Protected Status: An Overview.” American Immigration Council, 29 Aug. 2018, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview.
“Why Can't 'Dreamers' Just Apply For Citizenship?” WCCO | CBS Minnesota, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, 5 Sept. 2017, minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/09/05/gq-dreamers-citizenship/.