A call to dream

We’re asking that you listen.

Hear that? It’s the sound of 65,000 dreams dying to be fulfilled; the course of over two million lives to be decided in Congress in the coming days

All of us at Duke view our education as a blessing (sometimes), but also as a right—one we oftentimes take for granted. We’ve never known the feeling that comes with slaving over our studies and holding down a job, while our families fight eviction and live in fear; applying to college and learning there is no 9-digit passkey to our future; earning our college diploma only to say, “Now what?”—not because we don’t know whether to train for a profession or work for a few years, but because we’re prohibited from doing either.

But the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) represents a partial solution to the issues undocumented youths currently face. It will give hard-working individuals an opportunity to build a future in America, the country they consider their home. The DREAM Act evolved from a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced in 2001. It offers undocumented youth a 10 year conditional path to citizenship. Within those 10 years, these youth must either attend college or serve in the military for a minimum of two years. If they fail to meet these requirements, they will be subject to deportation.

In discussing what the DREAM Act is, we also wish to clarify what it isn’t. This is not an “amnesty” bill, since “amnesty” assumes that these youths chose to cross the border without proper documentation. However, those eligible for the DREAM Act came to this country at a young enough age that they had no choice in the matter; they did not come here willingly, they were brought here. As many DREAM Act supporters in Congress have noted, children should not have to pay for their parents’ actions.

The DREAM Act cannot encourage undocumented immigration, as it only applies to those who a) lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years prior to the bill’s passing b) can prove having entered the country before their sixteenth birthday and c) are under the age of 29. Additionally, beneficiaries must earn this opportunity by graduating from an American high school or completing a GED and maintaining a clean criminal record; otherwise they are ineligible for lawful conditional permanent resident status. Contrary to a common misconception, these students are NOT eligible for federal financial aid or health care.

The DREAM Act is a matter of urgency, and really, just doing the right thing. If deported, many of those brought here would be just as lost in their countries of origin as any of us would be. This is no exaggeration; it manifests itself almost daily. Examples range from college student Hector Lopez— who, brought here at the age of three, only recently learned he was undocumented when Immigration Customs and Enforcement arrested and deported him—to an individual who DukeEngage Tucson members encountered this summer in Nogales, Mexico. This man, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, was deported to Mexico after being pulled over for the crime of speeding. Although he’d been sent back to “where he belonged,” he could speak no Spanish. He, Hector and many like them constantly find themselves completely lost in “their country.” This vicious cycle cannot continue. Must others suffer the same fate while we delay and filibuster?

Perhaps it’s easy to fall into the belief that the DREAM Act’s implications are not particularly relevant to the Duke community. However, we should take note of President Richard Brodhead’s recent letter to Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), in which he asks for her support for the bill; in the course of that letter he points out that “Several enrolled students at Duke will find their options after graduation limited because of their documentation status. The DREAM Act would offer these students a pathway to citizenship.” In addition to the support it has garnered from President Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the NAACP, some of the bill’s most significant supporters are, in reality, our peers. This is highlighted in an April 2009 Chronicle column in which an anonymous Duke student discusses his/her struggles as an undocumented Chinese immigrant and his/her fear of what will happen after graduation.

Duke Students for Humane Borders is an immigrant advocacy organization whose purpose is to spread awareness on issues concerning the United States’ borders and human rights policies, as well as serve the wider immigrant community.