The Human Side Of Inaction On The DREAM Act

It was recently revealed that the Cal State Fresno student body president is an undocumented immigrant. This seemingly minor occurrence highlights the urgent need to help those students who were brought to this country when they were young and have done everything right only to find that they are in the country illegally. Stories like this give timely urgency to the current debate regarding the passage of the DREAM Act during the lame duck session.

Pedro Ramirez came to the United States at the age of 3 years old and has been here since. He has risen to prominence in school, despite having to work several menial labor jobs to make ends meet. Ramirez, was not eligible for any financial aid as he did not have a social security number. Despite all of that he has managed to give back to his community and become the student council president. Now an anonymous tip to the school newspaper has outed him as an undocumented immigrant and turned his whole life upside down.

Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times has the full story here:

He was to study hard, get good grades and claim the prize, but it wasn't until that night in their kitchen when the high school valedictorian was filling out university applications that they told him a missing detail — he wasn't a United States citizen. He was born in Mexico. He came to this country when he was 3 years old.

Now, an anonymous tip to the college newspaper has forced Ramirez to publicly expose his secret and has put this son of a maid and a restaurant worker into the thick of a debate on immigration and education that has reached a boiling point in recent weeks. Some have called for his resignation while others have rallied to his defense.

Despite working odd jobs to pay the bill, upon learning that he would receive a $9,000 stipend when he handily won the Cal State Fresno student council president position, he declined to take the money because he did not have a social security card required to fill out the forms to work there.

A foreshadowing of Ramirez's step into public discourse came with what at first seemed good news for him. After winning the presidency by a sizable margin in June, he found out that it came with a $9,000 stipend.

He was going to school under a law that allows students who attended a California high school for at least three years to pay the in-state tuition rate.

But with no documents, Ramirez couldn't receive any federal aid or legally work. He helped his father mow lawns and helped his mother clean houses to make money. Often he had less than $5 in his bank account.

Ironically this comes at a time when the California state schools are clamoring for money amidst a budget crisis which has left schools clamoring for money. 

Meanwhile, University of California campuses, pushed by the state's budget crisis to boost revenues, are taking unprecedented steps to recruit out-of-state and international students for the extra revenue and geographic diversity they bring to the cash-strapped system. UC campuses collect an extra $23,000 in annual tuition from each non-resident student.

With Congress tentatively set to take a vote on the DREAM Act after Thanksgiving, the fate of many immigrants who want nothing more than to contribute to society by going to school hangs in the balance.