The fight for the DREAM Act: Faltered but not fallen

In a vote to extend in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, the Maryland legislature went against a trend in other states that has been moving away from providing similar aid. Governor Martin O’Malley (D) has pledged to sign the bill, entitling Maryland students to tuition equity.

Since the federal DREAM Act failed to pass in the Senate last December, state legislatures have been revisiting their own laws to support undocumented youth. In order to benefit, the Maryland state bill requires students to attend for three years and graduate from a Maryland high school, attend a community college within the high school’s jurisdiction, and prove that taxes were paid by the student, parent or legal guardian three years prior to entering college and while attending college.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in the year 2000, approximately 2.5 million undocumented youth under the age of 18 were living in the United States. This group includes large numbers of Asian Pacific Americans and Latino Americans. As these students graduate from U.S. high schools, they have little or no prospects to achieve economic prosperity. For many of these young people, this is the only country they have ever known, and English is the only language that they speak.

Because of our broken immigration system, there is no opportunity for the majority of these undocumented youth to obtain legal status. Unless there is a change in immigration law, these young people will forever be relegated to a life in the underground economy instead of becoming tomorrow’s leaders and entrepreneurs.

So far, 10 other states have passed versions of the DREAM Act, extending in-state tuition to undocumented students, including California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. They are wise to identify the economic benefits of giving every student an equal opportunity to attain higher education.

Undocumented immigrant youth and students have as great a potential to contribute to our country as any other individual who is raised in the United States. As just one example of how passing the DREAM Act would save taxpayers money, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the 2010 version of the DREAM Act (H.R. 6497) "would reduce deficits by about $2.2 billion over the 2011-2020 period."

Unfortunately, three states that currently offer in-state tuition — Kansas, Nebraska and Texas — are looking to repeal the DREAM Act and are planning to join Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and South Carolina in barring undocumented immigrants from qualifying for in-state tuition rates.

Why are these states so inclined to prevent the undocumented youth, who had no choice of being raised in the United States, from achieving higher education and, ultimately, living their lives? Are they so eager to throw away all the potential opportunities and benefits to our country? Should children who have lived their entire lives here be punished for their parents’ decisions?

Regardless of what other states are doing or have done in the past, Maryland has set an example by being the first state to pass in-state tuition for undocumented students this year. And Governor O’Malley is to be applauded for pledging to sign such a fair and common-sense bill into legislation. The new bill will hopefully inspire other states to lead by example and approve the DREAM Act.

Andy Len is the 2011-2012 president of the Asian American Student Union at the University of Maryland and an intern at the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO.