Undocumented Students In Texas

Texas students deserve better. Our state leaders must take action to restore all funding cuts to higher education and keep the dream of college alive for all Texas

In “Undocumented students’ Access to College: The American Dream Denied,” Chavez, Soriano and Olivia (2007) have stated that millions of students who live in United States are undocumented immigrants; most of them come to U.S at a very young age. They completed their high school and achieved great academic success, some of them even got admitted by well know universities. From 2002 onwards , Assembly Bill 540 (AB 540) , authorized by the late Marco Antonio Firebaugh , allows any student who has completed three years high school, and received a high school diploma or equivalent in California, regardless of their immigration status, are legally allowed to attend colleges and universities (Chavez,Soriano and Oliverez 256).Even though they are eligible to apply and be admitted to universities, but they are not eligible to apply for federal financial aid, without the help of financial aid, it is extremely difficult for them to afford tuition. In this case, it severely limits undocumented student’s chances for upward mobility.

To keep with being an educated citizen of the United States, I did some research so I could properly inform myself on the issues with DACA, or the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”. I had no idea what this program was before writing this reflection. DACA was put into place by former President Barack Obama through an executive order. It provides young immigrants, those who came to the United States as minors, with protection from immediate deportation. It has been available for any immigrant minors under sixteen years of age for nearly ten years. Each two-year period can be renewed. Those who receive support from DACA cannot have a criminal record, according to an article from Fox News. DACA is a support program for young immigrants, also called DREAMers, in the United States.

According to USCIS, DACA allows undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S as minors to obtain deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. There are about 750,000 DACA recipients in the United States. The program does not take any benefits from American citizens and does not grant acceptance to those with criminal records."It does cross my mind how many people would be affected if the program were to go away," Goana told NBC News Latino. Goana came to the United States when she was only seven and has been working as a teacher in Arizona under her DACA status. Patriot X says he didn’t know much about the program until he turned fourteen and decided he wanted to join the U.S Military starting from Civil Air Patrol. He then learned that he was illegal and consequently ineligible for the program. He presses the palm of this hands on his desk and stares at the camera, then looks straight at me saying, “I still love America, if it does or doesn’t accept me. Being able to go to school even without having any documents, for me that’s a major opportunity. That would be the least they granted me, yet it’s still the greatest thing they did for me.” He continues, holding his tears: “Imagine if you’re legal? There’s so much you can do for this country and for yourself.” He gasps for air and brush his hand politely in the corner of his eyes to wipe the tears about to fall from his eyes. He looks down, and up, and our eyes meet. He seems like he’s looking for strength within himself, “I’m a DREAMER,” he says. His dream is to join the U.S Air Force, go to college for aerospace engineering, and complete aviation school to get a pilot’s

Through the years the DACA legislation has come a long way of providing a great advantage for undocumented students. Through the legislation we have been able to have a stable job and a sense of security. DACA does not only offer an opportunity to financially help the families of those students, who most likely are undocumented as well, but it also offers a deferred action from deportation which allows students to, for at least two years, live without the fear of being taken away from the US. This legislation has helped many students across the United States and many different ways the economy DACA provides a 42 percent wage raise for the recipients which can be connected to higher tax revenue and financial growth (Wong, Rosas, Reyna, Rodriguez,,

Background Information: President Barack Obama created DACA through a 2012 executive order. The program has allowed hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children to remain in the country. People who apply for the program can not have major criminal histories, and must have arrived in the U.S. before 2007, when they were under the age of 16. DACA recipients can live and work legally in the U.S. for renewable two-year periods. DACA was a agreement created by the Obama administration after Congress failed to approve the Dream Act. Experts estimate that about 11.5 million residents in the United States are unauthorized immigrants

You cannot watch the news lately without hearing something on DACA. DACA (Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals), which was an executive order signed by President Obama in hopes of encouraging congress to finally decide on immigration policies. DACA was created in 2012 by executive order by President Obama. According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center DACA, “is a prosecutorial discretion that provides a work permit and relief from removal for two years to certain eligible undocumented youth (DACA Fact Sheet). The youth that are eligible for DACA must be currently in school, have graduated or have a GED (General Education Development) certificate, have a clean adult criminal record and must be at least 15 years old but not over the

About 400,000 illegal immigrants come to the United States each year, each one with their own story and reasons. These illegal immigrants often have sorrowful stories that make you want to sympathize with them, but these immigrants never think about how their presence affects the United States. On September 5th, “President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the DACA program; they contended that undocumented immigrants took economic opportunities away from citizens and lawful permanent residents” (DREAM). The DACA program was created in 2012 by President Obama and allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. Recently, President Trump ended the program, but gave Congress a window to formulate a better plan

The first policy alternative, the status quo, is to not repeal or change the current makeup of the Texas Dream Act. Texas awards around $9 million in grants and scholarships, which are paid from the appropriations made by the legislature every two years. This might seem like a large amount but that cost is merely a fraction of the net profit the states makes off of undocumented students paying tuition at universities across the state. By not changing the policy Texas would expect to attain $56.1 million in tuition revenue from the undocumented students attending universities in Texas. Besides the tuition revenue, Texas would expect to see another $65 billion from wages, salaries and business earning by undocumented immigrants. The extra

An educational reform in higher education would eliminate the many educational and occupational barriers undocumented students face today. By permitting access to undocumented students into postsecondary education and earn a degree would eliminate poverty and unemployment levels in the country. It is essential to give as many young people undocumented or not the opportunity to enroll and succeed in postsecondary education to strengthen the economy of the United States. The younger generations are the future of this country and undocumented students are not the exception. These young students also play an important part in society today and if given the opportunity to earn a professional degree will most definitely impact American society in the years to come.

Texas’ government must work towards narrowing the income gap between the White and Hispanic populations, caused by the underwhelming socioeconomic status of many Latin American immigrants. This could be done by reforming the state’s educational system to better help Hispanics succeed. “…a lack of proactive efforts to address the unique needs of [Hispanics] in the educational system has untold implications for the future economic and social prosperity of the country…” (Saenz, et al,76) If Hispanics are to be the majority, the state should put more emphases on bi-lingual education. This will help reduce language barriers and make it easier for Spanish-speaking Hispanic children to succeed in the educational system. To combat statistics showing that a Hispanic student with poor socioeconomic status is heavily prone to taking drugs, committing crime, joining a gang, and going to prison, the state should invest in mentor programs. A 2008 study on the effects mentor programs have on Hispanic children showed that: “…having a mentor translated into positive academic outcomes, including greater expectancy of success, higher educational expectations, fewer absences, and a greater sense of school belonging.” (Saenz, et al, 80) These efforts will result in Hispanics having greater preparedness for higher education. The state would also benefit from investing in vocational

According to Golden Door Scholar, there are 1.4 million undocumented students in the United States and out of the 1.4 million students, only 7,000 will attend college. Defined by Educators for fair consideration, undocumented students are “foreign national individuals who entered the United States without inspection or with fraudulent documents.” There are programs to make it easier for undocumented students to attain an education like the DREAM Act. Although the DREAM Act is in effect, this is still not enough for undocumented students to attend good colleges and get the same rights as a citizen of the United States. Undocumented students should live their life

This paper will try to explain the variety of hardships many Mexican-American students endure in hopes to gain a higher education. Many are driven by the “American Dream”, which is the idea that individuals living in the U.S. have the equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and abilities. The American Dream often motivates foreigners to enter the United States illegally, hoping for that “equal opportunity” to success. However, not everyone living in the U.S. has equal opportunities, compared to native-born American citizens. This is why it can be difficult for Mexican-American students to attend colleges and universities. A higher education is difficult to obtain for Mexican-American students because of their low socioeconomic status, their differing cultural and structural characteristics, and the social and political institutions in our current society. Although this paper does not focus on the educational opportunities in Mexico, this paper will mostly focus on the educational system in the United States, particularly California State University, San Bernardino. In addition, this paper will refer to Mexican-American students as first-generation college students.

The current state of the Texas education policy is very complex and its roots can be traced all the way back to times were there was no equality in the public school system, we can even say it can be traced as far back to the state’s split from Mexico. This was a very problematic situation that began to be reformed heavily starting in 1954. The legislations that passed to resolve this problem have morphed the Texas Public education policy into what it is today.

For many years now the state of Texas has been said by many to be the land of opportunity where everyone can reach their aspirations. According to the Texas tribune, “More than 1 million undocumented immigrants live in Texas, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Because of its proximity to Mexico, Texas is second only to California in the number of undocumented immigrants who live in the state. Since the U.S. Congress in 2006 sparked national debate about illegal immigration, the state's immigration policies have become a matter of controversy in the Texas Legislature.”