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Latino group asks StudCo to broaden support for act
Latino Student Alliance panel features students’ immigration experiences
The Latino Student Alliance hosted a panel discussion last night that focused on issues Latino immigrants face in the United States and proposed that Student Council support the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act, which provides a path to citizenship for undocumented minors.
The panel was made up of seven students who told their personal stories of immigrating to the United States and was moderated by Daniel Chavez, assistant professor of Spanish and American Studies.
"Immigration is never a neutral term," Chavez said, as he opened the event with a presentation on the history of immigration in the United States.
Phil Storey, attorney for the Immigrant Advocacy Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center, followed Chavez with a presentation about the legal hurdles faced by students born to undocumented parents. Storey shed light on common misconceptions associated with the legal rights of undocumented immigrants. He spoke extensively about the "myth of the anchor baby," explaining that fewer rights are promised to undocumented parents of children born in the country than is commonly believed.
A group of panelists talked about their experiences living as Latino immigrants in the United States. One such panelist was fourth-year College student Aquiles Damiron-Alcantara, who shared his experience of leaving the Dominican Republic eight years ago.
"English was one of my biggest struggles as an immigrant," Damiron-Alcantara said. He moved north from Florida after his first few months in the United States in search of an English as a Second Language program. By the time he returned to his native country in 2008, six years after he initially left, he no longer felt as if he completely identified with the nation. "I was not like the other boys in the Dominican. I realized I was as much Dominican as American, both on paper and practically," he said.
Danny Navarro, LSA external communications chair, said the panel was held in an effort to speak out against the negative reputation he believes is given to Latin Americans by the media.\n"We are tired of being silent and tired of being afraid," Navarro said.
LSA also presented Student Council with a proposal to urge passage of the DREAM Act, which would provide qualifying, undocumented high school graduates with a six-year path to citizenship contingent on completion of a college degree or two years of military service.
The LSA proposal requests the student body press the University administration to draft a declaration affirming the University's support for the act.
"Before we can lobby the University formally, we have to educate students," Navarro said, adding that he believes it will be a year-long battle before any possibility of having the declaration adopted by the administration. The hope for yesterday's event, Navarro said, is for Student Council to involve the student body in conversations about the DREAM Act.
"But the challenges [the Latin American community] faces in America right now are so great," he said.
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Bernard
(10/07/10 2:23pm)Report
“But the challenges [the Latin American community] faces in America right now are so great,” he said.
I'm a latino whose parents came here legally. The challenges aren't all that great if you follow the immigration laws of the United States. Don't generalize.
Bernard
(10/07/10 2:36pm)Report
And before I get flamed, I meant 'aren't all that great' compared to legal immigrants of other ethnicities. Adjusting to a new country, culture, and language is always a challenge.
Sean
(10/07/10 3:49pm)Report
Has it occurred to anyone that continuously emptying out poor countries of their best and brightest - who all seem to come to the US or Western Europe, never to return - has fueled the downward spiral of these countries the last half century?? Has it likewise occurred to anyone that making the law arbitrary and telling cops they shouldn't enforce them anymore is a very dangerous precedent? Would the world be a better place if we quintupled the population of the United States in the next 20 years, go even broker than we already are, and left the "developing" world in a state of perpetual poverty and brain drain?
I have a friend in town who attends UVA. He is Latin, and his girlfriend of over a year is also not a citizen. They are rather fond of one another, but he has told me very matter of factly that they have decided that their relationship is going nowhere - and needs to stop ASAP. Because, after all, neither of them is a US citizen. Coming to school in the US if you are from a poor country is as much about finding an American to marry as getting an education. In fact, it is far more important than getting an education.
I heard a BBC report on NPR a few months back that detailed the horrific situation in Malawi regarding the availability of health care, and the effect that the lack of medical professionals has had on things like maternal and infant mortality. An exhausted midwife toward the end of the program reminded listeners that there are more Malawian doctors in city of Manchester, England alone than there are in all of Malawi.. Is UVA Medical School ensuring that their students from other countries return home and practice there? You bet they aren't. Let's get them into a mountain of debt that they'll never pay back unless they work in the US for five years instead. By then, they'll have an American spouse.
UVA students are fond of painting themselves as those caring so much about what happens in places like Latin America and Africa. But the most direct and meaningful thing they could do for places like Mexico and Colombia would be to stop buying and consuming so many illegal drugs, including the cartels' premier crop marijuana. But that is not going to happen, now is it? Not a chance. Instead, they'll have another dozen or two "awareness" meetings about how our laws should not be enforced any longer, keep our borders as porous as possible, make it easy for cartel thugs and whoever else to roam in and out at their pleasure, and badger student council to further contribute to the brain drain from poor countries.
Isabel
(10/08/10 1:22pm)Report
Thanks so much to UVA's LSA group and to Mr. Chavez for addressing this important matter. People need to understand what the DREAM Act really is about before they say nasty racist comments. The DREAM Act is about EARNED citizenship! It would only benefit those who have grown up in the US and its the only country they can call home!
It would specifically help those students who were brought to the US as minors with no choice of their own (can a 2 or 3 or 6 year old really have a say on what their parents decide?...no!) Who have good moral character, meaning no criminal record, have a US high school diploma and have lived in the US for at least 5 consecutive years. If the individual meets these requirements they would then have 6 years of conditional residency and within those 6 years they have to go to COLLEGE for at least 2 years or SERVE in the MILITARY for 2 years. Then they would get a permanent residence card. You then have to be a permanent residence card holder for at least 5 years before one can even apply to become a US citizen! As one can see we are talking about a more than a 10 year process to become a US citizen and one has to work hard for it under the DREAM Act! DREAMers just want to give back and contribute to their home: the United States of America!