With the federal government’s failure to enact immigration laws to fix a broken system, several States had enacted their respective laws restricting immigration. Not all laws enacted by the States are restrictive, the State of California and the State of Illinois recently passed their respective State Dream Acts. Both States provided opportunity to outstanding young students to avail of the privately funded scholarships in their State colleges and universities, irrespective of the student’s immigration status.
The Undocumented Student
Undocumented immigrants who enter the United States at a young age have limited options after they finish high school. They are only accepted in a limited number of colleges.
Considering the high cost of education, generally students work while studying. But for the undocumented student, they are not able to legally apply for jobs because they have no social security numbers and employment authorizations. Most deserving students find it difficult to obtain financial aid to support their education.
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act) was introduced in the U.S. Congress for more than a decade ago is never enacted into law. The proposed requirements to qualify for this federal law include: (1)student entered the United States before the age of 16; (2) been in the United States for not less than five years; (3) earned a high school diploma and (4) must have no criminal record and is not a danger to national security. If passed into law, the DREAM Act will provide qualified undocumented students the wide options for educational opportunities and the ability to secure their legal permanent status.
Unfortunately, this federal DREAM Act never passed Congress.
The California Dream Act
Assembly Bill 130 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on July 26, 2011. This DREAM Act in California allows students who are undocumented who qualify for in-state tuition to apply also for private financial aid.
The goal of the California Dream Act is really to assist these young but deserving students through college by giving them opportunity for private funded scholarships. Beginning January 1, 2012, the undocumented students will be eligible for privately funded non state scholarships at California community colleges, state colleges and public universities.
Dream Act and AB540
The Dream Act is not the first law that was enacted by the California legislature giving equal opportunities to undocumented students. The AB540 enacted in 2001 allows undocumented students to pay only the “in-state” tuition fees as the undocumented student attended a U.S. high school for more than three years.
AB 540 has been subject of a contested litigation in court and reached the U.S. Supreme Court. It was attacked as being discriminatory and favoring illegal immigrants over out-of-state residents who study higher education in California. On June 6, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge to this AB540 allowing the undocumented students to reap the benefit of reduced tuition.
Having survived the challenge to this law in courts, hopefully the California Dream Act will not face the same judicial challenges by the anti-immigrants. Former Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed this Dream Act three times during his tenure as state governor.
The Second Dream Act
Assemblyman Gil Cedillo adopted a strategy of dividing the Dream Act into two bills: AB 130 and AB 131. The first Dream Act (AB 130) recently signed into law allows for private funded scholarship but does not allow opportunity for state-funded scholarships and financial aid. Additional financial aids and grants for undocumented student are contained in a second Dream Act contained in AB 131 which is still awaiting passage. In this second Dream Act undocumented students shall have access to Cal-Grants, state financial aids and even tuition fee waivers provided by the Board of Governors. This second Dream Act (AB131) might be more difficult to pass but advocacy is strong after the passage of first Dream Act (AB 130).
No Path to Legalization or Citizenship
Allowing the undocumented students the opportunity for financial assistance is definitely a positive development especially for deserving and outstanding students. Many students in California and Illinois will now have better access to community colleges, state colleges and universities and graduate with a college degree. However, the bigger challenge is legalizing status for these students. They should be allowed to practice their chosen profession by becoming permanent residents. The State’s Dream Act is not the federal DREAM Act we aspire for all undocumented students. The federal DREAM Act should pass into law to allow theses students the path to citizenship. They do not have to suffer the consequences of the decisions their parents made for them when they entered the United States and overstayed their authorized stay. The undocumented students deserve better.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 1 888 930 0808)
