Issue Brief: DREAM Act

Dear Congressman James McGovern,

SUMMARY

I am writing to you in advocacy of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2017. Specifically, I would like to advocate for the section of the DREAM Act that repeals Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Though I recognize that this act was not passed in 2017, I hope in the future it will be possible and that you will vote to support it.

BACKGROUND

Undocumented immigrant youth are in a unique position because they are brought into the United States as children under the age of 18 by the actions and choices of adults. There is an estimated 1,000,000 children under the age of 18 living in the United States as undocumented youth. As these youth come of age in America, they find that they cannot gain a driver’s license, they cannot vote or participate in other civic engagements, and that they do not receive federal aid should they continue to secondary education. (“Undocumented Youth”) Furthermore, undocumented youth suffer as they come to learn the difference between themselves and their peers in the eyes of the law. Undocumented children are “frequently subjected to experience like racial profiling, ongoing discrimination, exposure to gangs, immigration raids in their communities, being forcibly taken or separated from their families”. (“Undocumented Americans”) In regards to education, undocumented youth and undocumented families are usually in low income families. This greatly lessens their ability to move on to secondary education. Undocumented youth’s ability to study at a higher education level is further impeded by federal rules that limit their access to in-state tuition, which is far less expensive than ‘out of state’ tuition for public schools. Undocumented youth are also non eligible for federal aid or other scholarships. (Stimson)

OPTIONS

The DREAM Act is an act that would help undocumented youth continue on to higher education past high school. It creates a pathway to a legal status for immigrants that illegally entered the United States as children due to the choices of their guardians. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits state colleges from giving in state tuition to undocumented immigrants, but the DREAM act would repeal this. This would improve the affordability of colleges for immigrant youth. (“Dream Act”) Though many states have a state DREAM Acts that provides undocumented youth with in state tuition, a federal DREAM Act would enforce this on a nationwide level. States are also unable to create a pathway to legal status, but a federal DREAM Act would provide this.

RATIONALE

The United States has laws protecting children because we believe they are not responsible for their actions, specifically that they cannot be held responsible for the decisions their parents make for them, of which they have no control over. Allowing a pathway to legal status for children that were brought into the United States by their parents and not by their own actions is in line with this value. State DREAM Acts have also proven that this act does increase the amount of immigrants able to go onto to gain a higher education. This is in turn better for the individual immigrant because it does not separate them from their peers and it provides them with equal opportunities. It is also better for the society as a whole because it allows for more highly skilled workers that can in turn help the economy.

Thank You,

Evelyn Cody

BS in Statistics and Philosophy ‘18

MS in Statistics ‘19

508-335-0235