Young, Bright, Undocumented: Saving America's Future Leaders from Being Deported.

By now it should be apparent that the theme of this blog has taken the shape of a consideration of issues pertaining to the lives of high school aged girls and within the sphere of attending school. For this post I’d like to consider briefly the experiences of undocumented, or non-citizen students (I avoid use of the term “illegal” because I find it derisive.) I decided to examine this issue in my blog in the spirit of the upcoming national elections that, in many races, take immigration reform and immigrant rights as a key issue.

           I hope that this entry doesn’t seem like a re-focus or shift from the issues of high school girls because many of the undocumented students discussed in the articles I’ve found are, of course, girls. Furthermore, the combined experience of being both an immigrant and female represents what the theorist Robyn Warhol terms “intersectionality” in the assigned reading. This being a compounding of disenfranchisement when marginalized identities are experienced simultaneously.

         According to a report published by the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, an estimated 65,000 students graduate from high school in the U.S. each year. Of course this number may actually be much higher since their undocumented status makes arriving at a precise count almost impossible. The authors of this report point out that, “many of these students are honor students, athletes, student leaders, and aspiring professionals. But because of their immigration status, the majority of these young people are unable to access higher education and even if they do, they are not legally able to obtain employment upon graduation.” Thus undocumented students are denied in-state tuition, scholarships, and financial aid for attending American universities even if they excelled while attending American high schools.

         If this seems counter-intuitive to planning for a prosperous future, that’s because it is. Fortunately there are signs that a culture shift is underway which will change the way America views and undocumented immigrants, especially those who were brought to the U.S. as children. A Time Magazine article titled, “California Dreaming: Will the State Give Scholarships to Its Undocumented Youths?” by Jens Erik Gould described that state’s passage of a bill that allowed privately funded scholarships to be awarded to undocumented students making higher education more accessible to this group than ever before. Many hope that the bill will be replicated in states across the country and be expanded to include public scholarships as well.

         But would these bills go far enough in insuring that non-citizen students reach their full potential? Why should bright, young, leadership be stifled because of a bureaucratic technicality? If students like these have lived in the U.S. most or all of their lives and consider this to be their home country, then their citizenship status is just that- a technicality. This is the logic behind the DREAM Act which would allow undocumented young people a path to citizenship in exchange for social contributions like military service or attending college.

         As I mentioned before, immigration issues like this one are a big issue in the upcoming elections and candidates nation-wide are seeking the allegiance of Latino and Hispanic voters. As far as the Presidential election is concerned, it is clear which of the two major party candidates would do more in encouraging the passage of this bill. The Huffington post has reported that President Obama not only advocates for passage of the DREAM Act, but responded to the failure of Congress to pass the bill by issuing a plan of “deferred action.” Under the plan, immigrants who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16 and are currently under 30 may avoid deportation by applying for work visas.

            Among the loudest voices calling for immigration reform, passage of the DREAM Act, and in the meantime, upholding Obama’s “deferred actions,” is the journalist Antonio Jose Vergas. Vergas, who was a featured keynote speaker at UofL’s PRIDE week last month, won the Pulitzer Prize before losing his job when he “outed” himself as an undocumented American. He has also founded the organization “Define American” which works to raise awareness for the millions of Americans who are classified as none citizens. On DefineAmerican.org, users may upload videos describing their own experiences encountering this issue. The one I’ve reposted below describes two girls, friends since high school, and one girl’s fight to save the other from being deported. I chose this one from the site because it demonstrates how the issue is felt by the group I’ve been examining with this blog, but also because it illustrates how entire communities are affected. All of us have something at stake when it comes to reforming our immigration policies and something to gain from making sure our brightest minds aren’t deported.