Hanover, N.H. — A pair of Georgians who lack legal status in the U.S. had ready answers Friday when they were asked here on the Dartmouth College campus what going to college would mean for them.
“I know college is the right place for me — where I can finally fit in,” said Citlalli Garcia, 18, a South Gwinnett High School graduate from Mexico who has been granted a temporary reprieve from deportation called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. “I always felt like I never belonged. And education is a place where you can finally reach what you have always been looking for — your purpose in life.”
Yessenia Gonzalez, 19, a Mexican native who graduated from high school in Gainesville and who has also been granted DACA, said: “College to me is the key to prove… that I can further my education and that — even though we don’t have the privileges of being citizens — we can still reach our goals.”
Gonzalez and Garcia are now barred from attending five of Georgia's top colleges and universities and paying heavily discounted in-state tuition rates at its others. So they are traveling this week across the Northeast, bringing attention to their plight and visiting colleges — like Dartmouth and Smith College — that admit immigrants like them.
With four other Georgians, Garcia and Gonzalez met with Dartmouth admissions officials Friday and were given a brief tour of the campus, which was preparing for a massive Homecoming celebration and bonfire. All of the Georgians are members of Atlanta-based Freedom University, a tuition-free school that helps immigrants without legal status prepare for college. Former Freedom University students now attend Smith and Dartmouth.
Several lawsuits aimed at repealing Georgia's policies are now pending in state and federal courts. Critics say those policies are wrongheaded and hard-hearted. Supporters say they help reserve taxpayer-funded resources for U.S. citizens and others with legal status.
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