Alma is a student who is in the final year of her high school career. She has worked extremely hard at maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She is the president of the Spanish Club, the A.P. Club and the Math Club. On the weekends she volunteers at her local soup kitchen and feeds the homeless. She has gone through the Virginia public school system, sharing and experiencing the same education as her classmates. Her longtime school friends simply know her as Alma and nothing else. But what they do not know is that she is an undocumented high school student.
Alma represents the countless and nameless students in our community who find themselves without educational opportunities after high school. Students like her are resources to the community. Not only have we invested in them through our public education, but they have invested in us, through their service to the community. We must also realize that these students are not going to leave, they are here to stay. And they are just like you and me. They have been raised and taught the same ideals and values that their elementary and high school peers have learned. They are not a drain to the economy, but rather pay sales taxes and buy goods and services, just like everybody else. There is a common misperception that students just like Alma have made a conscious effort to break the law and to continually break the law. That is the farthest thing from the truth.
What law did they break? According to Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, it is a 1996 federal law banning undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition privileges. Usually when you are involved in some type of criminal activity there is the act of breaking the law, and also the intention of breaking the law. The only intention that these college-bound undocumented students had was the intention of living with their parents and excelling in school. These are children that should not be eschewed by society, but rather they should be embraced for their virtues of family and hard work. Behind those faces lie not criminals, but rather the dreams and hopes of one day being our society's doctors, teachers, nurses and community leaders.
Moreover, what would be the benefit of remaining an undocumented student? You have political and governmental establishments seeking to deny you access and the financial assistance necessary to attend college. You also have to pay high out-of-state tuition fees, in some cases almost a 400 percent increase. Furthermore, you have to live with the constant fear of deportation and being taken away from your family. And, you can't apply for any real or meaningful job, because you lack the proper documentation necessary for employment.
So why would you want to remain an undocumented student? The fact of the matter is that these students have no avenue to regularize their immigration status. The two avenues that are used by immigrants to regularize their immigration status are family sponsorship or through some specialized form of employment. These two avenues, however, are closed to undocumented students.Oftentimes the families of these students are undocumented themselves and are thereby unable to provide sponsorship. In addition, these students are too young to seek the specialized employment that is allowed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Finally, those opposed to allowing undocumented students access to Virginia's colleges and universities often state that these students are a burden to the Commonwealth's taxpayers. In actuality, these college-bound students and their families all pay sales taxes on goods that they purchase, just like you and me. Also, many times, undocumented families do pay income taxes, either through an Internal Revenue Service process, which issues undocumented people identification numbers for tax purposes, or in some instances by having social security numbers that were readily available to undocumented immigrants during the 1980s and early 1990s. Either way, the families of undocumented students do pay taxes and receive little, if no benefits in return.
Further, when you think about the benefits that these undocumented students would contribute after college as our state's professionals and leaders, it clearly outweighs the harm caused by creating an uneducated lower class of citizens. These students will have the skills that are necessary to be productive and contributing members of our society.
According to the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights, with regard to The Student Adjustment Act in Texas -- meant to aid undocumented students in the United States -- "the cost of not helping motivated students to stay in school and attend college is greater than the cost of helping them" (www.icirr.org). Texas estimated that for every dollar spent in the Texas higher education system on this class of students, more than $5 are pumped into the Texas economy. Texas, as well as California, New York and Utah, all offer access to and in-state tuition to their college-bound undocumented students who are willing to sign affidavits that state they will regularize their immigration status as soon as possible.
Allowing Virginia's undocumented college-bound students admission into the Commonwealth's public colleges and universities is both financially beneficial and the compassionate thing to do.
(Andres Tobar and Samuel G. McTyre are the
co-chairmen of Virginia's Immigrant Educational Rights Coalition.)
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