Leaders from Brighton Park and Albany Park Neighborhood

Councils in Chicago gathered outside Illinois Congressman

Henry Hyde's office in November to show support for the

DREAM Act.

One of the basic principles of the “American Dream” is that all children in the United States have equal access to a free and public education, yet many foreign-born students who graduate from the same elementary and high schools as the children of citizens and legal permanent residents find the doors of higher education closed.

Regardless of their academic achievement, many of these promising students are unable to attend college in the United States because they do not have access to in-state tuition rates and financial assistance that other graduates of American high schools enjoy.

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or "DREAM Act", would allow qualified, undocumented immigrant students conditional status for six years in which time they are allowed to work, enroll in college, or join the military. After two years of conditional status, they could be eligible to become legal permanent residents.

This legislation provides the only opportunity to ensure that hardworking immigrant students are able to attend higher education despite their current immigration status.

Many of these students have lived in America for most of their lives. Many of them are unaware of their citizenship status, and find out only after beginning the college application process.

Passage of the DREAM Act would help these youth succeed in life.
Community leaders will discuss their efforts to increase opportunities for the immigrant population and their support for the DREAM Act at a workshop on March 28.

“The DREAM Act is very important because our undocumented youth should also have the opportunity to make their dreams come true and they should have oportunities for a higher education and for prosperity,” said Tomasa Fonsec, an Iowa Citizens Community Improvement member.

The United States has a regrettable history of barring access to higher education for reasons of race and national origin. African American students were barred from admission to most colleges and universities when segregation was the law of the land. During World War II, many Japanese American students were denied access to higher education. The financial barriers undocumented, young people encounter in trying to attend college differ from these legal bars; but in practical effect are often the same, and the results are identical.

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