ANALYSIS: DREAM Act Receives Layered Support

Currently, undocumented students who illegally immigrated to the United States at a young age have no means by which to obtain legal status, despite the successes they may achieve in the academic realm.

After much debate in recent years, the Senate may soon vote on legislation that would provide undocumented youth with a route to citizenship.

If passed, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act would provide qualified undocumented youth with a six-year-long conditional path to citizenship upon the completion of two years of higher education or two years of military service.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada announced that the proposed DREAM Act will be amended to military legislation that is scheduled for vote on the Senate floor next week.

The Harvard community has been vocal in its support for the Act, which would provide amnesty for a number of its own.

STUDENT ADVOCACY

At the ground level, support for the DREAM Act has arisen from a determined Harvard student body.

Harvard College Act on a Dream, a campus organization that engages students in ensuring equality for all immigrants, collected numerous testimonies of undocumented students in a packet that was sent to U.S. senators across the nation.

The group sponsored National Coming Out of the Shadows Day last March, during which students collected around the John Harvard statue to read their stories.

“I think the Harvard community has been incredibly responsive in the last few days,” wrote Act on a Dream Co-Director Melissa V. Perez ‘13 in an e-mail. “Harvard’s Office for Federal Relations has been extremely helpful in moving things forward, as has the President’s Office. It says a lot about their commitment to protecting the rights of undocumented students across the nation. We hope more universities will follow suit.”

According to Perez, the organization prides itself in its “professional approach” to advocating for immigration reform.

“While we understand the merits of a grassroots approach to mobilizing supporters, we feel that as Harvard students we are uniquely positioned to tap into a wealth of influential resources and contacts that can be used to the movement’s advantage,” Perez wrote.

“While this is a departure from the tactics of other DREAM activists, we’re already playing an important role in changing people’s minds about next week’s vote,” she added. “The stories of our peers remind lawmakers and the public that this is not a controversial issue, but instead, a commonsense solution to an injustice. We will continue to disseminate this package far and wide.”

UNIVERSITY SPEAKS

Harvard has remained a consistent public proponent of the DREAM Act. In keeping with its support for the reforms, the University does not consider a student’s citizenship status in admissions decisions.

“The University admits qualified students from all around the globe,” said Kevin Galvin, director of news and media relations, in an interview with The Crimson in June. “We believe that the diversity of talent and experience which our students bring augments the teaching and educational experience at Harvard.”

University President Drew G. Faust has openly advocated for the DREAM Act, including writing a letter in support of the legislation to Mass. Rep. Michael E. Capuano in May 2009 and meeting with recently elected U.S. Senator Scott P. Brown in part to urge him to support the DREAM Act.

As part of a trip to Washington, D.C. this week, Faust met with Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin to discuss the Act and share her appreciation for his support for the proposed legislation.

“These young men and women are working hard in school and are dedicated to a future living in and contributing to our communities or serving in the military,” Faust said in a statement released yesterday. “I believe it is in our best interest to educate all students to their full potential.”

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

On Aug. 2, the Cambridge City Council passed a resolution calling upon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to halt the removal of immigrant students.

The resolution was authored by Harvard Divinity School student Christopher C. Hope, who has also been involved at the metropolitan level with the Student Immigrant Movement, a Mass. student group that advocates for equal rights for immigrant students.

“The Student Immigration Movement has been encouraging different affiliates and people to go to Sen. Scott Brown’s office to bring the issue to the forefront,” Hope said. “My attitude is that we have work to do—we have unfinished business in protecting and helping our children receive adequate education in this country, immigrant or non immigrant.”

OPPOSING VIEWS

While some Senate Republicans have argued that Reid’s announcement is a ploy to gain Hispanic votes in the upcoming November election, other organizations, such as NumbersUSA, are confident that the advocacy will lead to an unfruitful end if the bill remains worded as is.

Roy H. Beck, president of immigration reduction group NumbersUSA, said that the DREAM Act is not written “to deal with people that they claim it’s for,” and will not solve the problem of companies hiring illegal immigrants.

“It creates a panic, wide amnesty instead of a narrow amnesty,” Beck said.

Whether or not the DREAM Act is passed, the recent discussions have brought to light the way immigration policies affect students.

“We can allow a generation of immigrant students with great potential and ambitions to contribute more fully to our society and our national security,” said Durbin in a released statement on Wednesday, “or we can relegate them to a future in the shadows, which would be a loss for us all.”

—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.