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California DREAM Act offers financial assistance to undocumented students

Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Updated: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 18:10

California passed a bill this week that will make students who are illegal immigrants eligible for state financial aid. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act allows undocumented students at state schools to apply for aid such as the Cal Grant.

The DREAM Act is intended to allow high-achieving students the opportunity to attend California universities and community colleges. In order to be eligible, students must qualify for aid under AB 540, which allows non-residents to pay in-state tuition. Applicants are required to attend a California high school for three years, graduate and provide evidence that they are in the process of applying for citizenship.

According to the California Department of Finance, 2,500 students currently qualify for Cal Grants. Luis Quinonez, a legislative aide for assembly member Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, reports that about 30 percent of students under AB 540 are undocumented.

While AB 130, a bill which allows undocumented students to receive private institutional aid, was passed in July, the DREAM Act remains controversial among Californian residents.

The bill, which will go into effect in 2013, will cost between $15 million and $40 million annually, costs which opponents say will further strain California's underfunded education budget. Amid massive budget cuts for schools, the DREAM Act has come under scrutiny for providing aid to illegal aliens.

"When the state is cutting services to legal residents, it's unfair and reckless to be extending benefits to illegal aliens," said Kristen Williamson, spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, in an interview with The Daily Bruin, UCLA's newspaper. Some students feel that at a time when many middle-class and low-income families are struggling to pay for their children's education, providing aid to undocumented students is unfair. Californian students are widely divided over the issue, with rallies in support and protest taking place across campuses.

Sasha Hippard '13, another student from California, expressed mixed feelings about the act. "While I am a strong supporter of immigrants' rights, I'm not sure if it's the place of the state government to award state-funded financial aid to individuals who are not, politically speaking, ‘residents' of the state," she said.

Even those who will benefit from the bill have expressed concerns about how it will affect them later in life. The DREAM Act does not promise citizenship or benefits after graduating. Students who receive a diploma will still not be able to apply for U.S. jobs until they become citizens.

"It's messy because it really speaks to the larger question of why these students who are clearly hard-working, contributing and established members of their community are not allowed to gain citizenship, or at the very least, a green card," said Hippard. Proponents of the Act are pushing for the passage of the federal DREAM Act, which would provide U.S. citizenship to undocumented students who have graduated or served in the military. The federal act, however, was rejected last December.

 

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2 comments

Dave francis
Wed Oct 19 2011 22:07
In Las Vegas last night the best yet presidential candidate���s debate, the sixth people standing behind their lecterns pledged a stand against the illegal immigration occupation. However, all the Republicans remained somewhat tough-tied, when it comes to an overall coherent agenda that could resolve most of this nation���s illegal alien issue.As in the statement by the pro-sovereignty organizations and restricting of legal immigration NumbersUSA site during this deep recession: The plan is simple, reasonable and equally achievable. Any candidate on the platform could win the hearts and admiration of millions of voters, including the tens of millions of Tea Party members by adopting this plan and learning to articulate its worth.This is a five step plan, to each of your favorite presidential candidates, which should include current President Obama. By going to NumbersUSA website you can study each grading for each potential personage. On the grid, you can click on any photograph to access the contact information.HERE IS THE PRINCIPLE ISSUES:1. By securing the border as addressed in the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which Michelle Bachmann outlined in the debate.2. A goal of reversing illegal immigration.The federal government���s goal relating to illegal immigration should be to reduce the number of illegal aliens in our country, over a period of time and in an orderly fashion using every means possible. Representative Lamar Smith's LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT��� is a great beginning and should be mandatory act.Halting illegal immigration as it now, isn't enough. Securing the borders as it is now, isn't enough.The US authorities have to affect 20 million plus foreigners, to return to their homeland. So instead of America becoming an importer of people, we have to append more resources to de-magnetizing the attraction and become a net exporter of illegal immigration annually.A conscientious approach to illegal immigration would seek to craft a program, a number of illegal aliens who leave the country annually greater than the number who enter the country--annually. Experts who study these policies judge that we could attain a net outflow between one million and two million per year by implementing or enhancing a handful of procedures that are already known to be effective, and in fact are largely premised on existing law. Namely:��� turning off the jobs magnet by requiring workplace verification of legal status (i.e., requiring all employers to use the existing but not-yet-mandatory program known as E-Verify); Waiting for a floor vote, but held back by some Republican politicians.��� turning off various other magnets such as in-state tuition, drivers licenses and birthright citizenship; ��� Building an effective, physical fence on the Mexican border; The 2006 Secure Fence Act planned as a double layer fence, stretching the majority of the border, with the top lined with concertina razor wire. Between fences a no-man���s land for use of mobile Border Patrol units and military troops. ��� deploying a reliable check-in/check-out system for visitors to the United States (i.e., fixing the current program known as US VISIT); and ��� Enforcing existing deportation laws to perhaps double the effect of current enforcement.These five measures alone should reduce our illegal alien population by half in less than six years. Let us consider each measure in turn. THE 5 STEPS Turning off the jobs magnet. By far the most significant means of reversing illegal immigration is to stop illegal aliens from holding jobs. Without jobs, most illegal aliens will find it difficult to support themselves and will return home. Candidates would do well to endorse House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (Bill H.R. 2885)because it accomplishes more than required E-Verify for new hires and sets up systems for identifying and firing illegal aliens who have obtained jobs with stolen identities. If you want to free fax, go to NumbersUSA or please call Washington at 202-224-3121 and ask for your U.S. Senator or Representative's office to urge action on mandatory E-Verify.We need to hear candidates pledge as President to fully enforce every aspect of this legislation. Turning off other magnets. For the same rationale the jobs magnet should be turned off, so too should all the other magnets. One example is in-state tuition (Dream Act) for illegal aliens. There are others such as the current privilege of not paying for health care in hospitals. The biggest, however, is birthright citizenship: the granting of American citizenship to a child merely because he or she was born here, even if to illegal alien parents. The later is by far the costliest taxpayer support mechanism, as misinterpreted in the 14th Amendment. Building an effective, physical fence. Effective, physical fencing along the Mexican border (i.e., a wall where that is fitting, or a double-fence with a barrier road between the fences where that is appropriate) is a...
Dan Fisher
Wed Oct 19 2011 18:27
Our State is going broke and Jerry Brown is just giving away our hard earned tax dollars to a bunch law breaking illegal Mexicans! Jerry needs to be voted out of office! And I am a Dem!




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