DREAM Activists Looking to Further Goals of DREAM Act

Imagine applying for college only to discover that although you have lived in the United States for years, you must pay the tuition of an international student and on top of everything, you are not eligible for federal aid or loans.That is the situation experienced by some of the 65,000 undocumented students that graduate from high school each year, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. That is the situation that the Ohio University student organization DREAM Activists seeks to remedy.Inspired by the stories of undocumented students whose dreams of education were crippled, senior Allison Hight founded the DREAM Activists at the beginning of the 2013 spring semester, an organization that works at the local, state and national levels to “provide a support base for undocumented students and also to support the passage of the DREAM Act or any positive immigration reform.”The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, first introduced to Congress in 2001 by senators from opposite sides of the aisle, targets a specific demographic to undocumented immigrants—youths who arrived in the U.S. when they were under 16 years old and who have lived in the United States for at least five years.Assuming they had no criminal record, any of the approximately 2 million “dreamers”—those who qualify under the DREAM Act—would become citizens after about six years, during which they must complete two to four years of higher education or military service.“The DREAM Act just made sense because it targets students who are already in the country not of their own volition, because it provides them an opportunity…to work toward education,” Hight said.Despite this seeming practicality of the DREAM Act, it has failed to pass through both chambers of Congress every year since its initial appearance in 2001. In response, Hight said that she hoped to get people “riled up about immigration reform.” However, she said that this is easier said than done.“Getting people involved [is my greatest challenge.] There have been many meetings where I am the only one there,” she said, referring to DREAM Activists’ weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Bentley 025.Although she may be lacking in numbers, Hight is not short of ideas.Among others, Hight hopes to lobby Ohio’s congressional members to pass a statewide DREAM Act as California and Texas have done; to kick-start “Welcome Athens,” a program based off of a Dayton initiative that would overhaul the city’s infrastructure so as to be more supportive of immigrants and to raise scholarship money to support undocumented students.Hight has already teamed up with The Dream is Now in part by circulating their petition supporting the DREAM Act. Raising awareness on campus is another one of Hight’s objectives.“We are planning a movie night for the movie “A Better Life,” the documentary that The Dream is Now is putting together. That’s going to be our major event for the year and it’s happening near the end of April. It’s set in California, and it tells the story of an undocumented immigrant,” she said.The flyers that Hight has hung around campus trying to reel in more members cite the “why” that forms the core of the DREAM Activists group.“Everyone, regardless of possession of a social security number, deserves to have the chance to follow their dreams,” Hight said.