‘Dream Act’ students vow to work harder for rights
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‘Dream Act’ students vow to work harder for rights
REBECCA HUVAL Napa Valley Register | Posted: Friday, December 24, 2010 12:00 am | (9) Comments
After Congress rejected the Dream Act last week, Aaron Gonzalez’s path to teaching history and coaching soccer at his alma mater, Napa High School, someday became a lot rockier.
Lacking citizenship, Gonzalez, 22, must now pay full tuition for two more years of Napa Valley College without the help of financial aid. Then, unless the Dream Act eventually passes, he won’t be eligible to teach at the high school where he graduated.
“It’s just unbelievable to me that it didn’t pass,” Gonzalez said. “It’s significant to me in every way. It’s everything I need to work for.”
Gonzalez is an Assembly Bill 540 student, undocumented but eligible to pay in-state tuition in California. At Napa Valley College, a handful of those students and other activists rallied this fall for the Dream Act and formed a coalition to support the cause.
The act would provide a path to conditional permanent residency for high school students without U.S. citizenship who go to college or serve in the military.
Instead of disbanding after Congress blocked the act Saturday, the Napa Valley Dream Act Coalition will revamp, said Laura Lopez, 23, of Napa, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz as an AB 540 student.
The Coalition’s efforts, such as calling senators across the U.S. and attending rallies in San Francisco, have not been in vain, Lopez said.
“It demonstrated how much power the youth have,” Lopez said. “Even if they’re undocumented and can’t vote, there’s so much you can do to have civic engagement in your community.”
Lopez was arrested for trespassing July 20 in Washington, D.C., as part of a sit-in at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office. She revealed herself as undocumented at the risk of deportation.
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If our gov't had any balls all these people would have been deported already :mad:
