Maureen Downey: A Dream come true

The best way to judge a country is to examine how it treats its children, even those whose parents arrive on the nation’s shores by boat or border crossing. Our country is diminished by immigration policies that deny educational opportunities to children to punish their parents. Every educated American is a boon to our nation’s economy, health and future.

My own grandparents were immigrants from Italy who eked out a living. Yet, all their grandchildren are college-educated, taxpaying citizens. And that advancement is owed to one thing: higher education.

Yet, Georgia is considering barring illegal immigrants from attending Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and any other public college that doesn’t have space to admit all qualified applicants.

On a national level, the federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, which broadens access to higher education for immigrant children and puts them on a path to citizenship, is in limbo.

While the Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that illegal immigrants are entitled to a public school education, nothing in the ruling addresses their college status. Now, states retain the power to determine whether or not to admit illegal aliens into college and what to charge them. (Georgia law requires illegal immigrants to pay out-of-state tuition.)

The DREAM Act grants conditional status for six years to students who arrived in this country before age 16, lived here at least five consecutive years, graduated from high school and are of good character.

During that six years, the student would have to graduate from a two-year community college or complete at least two years of a four-year degree, or serve in the U.S. military to qualify to apply for permanent resident status.

“It represents a path out of poverty and a path to success. It is an investment our country should make for all children,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, during a conference call on the DREAM Act last week.

“I believe it is not only the right thing to do for these students, it is also the right thing to do for our country,” said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who also participated in the conference call.

“In this economy, we need everyone trained and prepared. These children were brought here by their parents, often as infants without making any choice of their own,” said Duncan.

The DREAM Act passed twice out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and cleared the full Senate in 2006 with the support of 11 Republicans, all of whom remain in office, said Duncan, pledging his backing and that of President Barack Obama to its passage.

Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, said he has met hundreds of undocumented students in his state and has come to admire their drive and their abilities. While America is hiring talent from abroad, it’s denying an education to promising students within its own borders, he said.

“You want to tap into that talent. My own view of the fairness doctrine is that high achievement, particularly by children, ought to be recognized, regardless of the national political immigration debate,” he said.

Crow said DREAM Act passage by Congress “would send a tremendous signal that individuals with talent who have worked their way into successful pathways are now pulled out of the bigger immigration debate and their lives can move forward while immigration issues are resolved over the longer term.”

John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, echoed his Arizona colleague: “These are young people who aren’t here by their own choice. They have played by our rules. They have succeeded by our rules. For everything we stand for as a people, they should be able to continue their development in this country.”

One of the students caught in this political tussle is Miriam Torres, a 20-year-old honor student from Roswell, who dreams of attending Tech to study biomedical engineering. But because she came here with her parents illegally from Mexico as a child, Torres is not eligible for most grants, loans or scholarships. So, she can’t afford Tech’s tuition and may return to Mexico to fulfill her college dreams.

In the meantime, American companies are recruiting biomedical engineers abroad. State Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, says that, while sympathetic to Torres, “... she can’t legally get a job here. We are going to educate her for what reason?”