Virginia's Dreamers

The Richmond Times Dispatch had a good series of articles this week on the Richmonders participating in the Dreams Across America program designed to highlight the need to pass sane and humane immigration reform.

One of the dreams highlighted by the tour is the dream of educational opportunity offered by the DREAM Act which is included in the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill.

The current version of the DREAM Act would repeal a provision of federal law that has been interpreted by the Virginia Attorney General to prohibit Virginia from allowing undocumented students who are graduates of Virginia high schools to attend college as in-state students even if they can show that they are state taxpayers.

Read more about what state college leaders think about the issue of in-state tuition and undocumented students here and the issues of inclusion and access including the DREAM Act here.

Read the RTD's stories:
Area Immigrants Lobby Congress for Change
Students Pursue Immigration Reform
Some Immigrants Seek Freedom from Abusers
Goals of Immigrants Vary
Turnout Low for Immigration Rally

Comprehensive immigration reform is essential to keep the American dream alive.

Congratulations to Alexcia Monk and Cristina Reibel for their hard work on the Virginia Dreams Across American program!

UPDATE: From this morning's Richmond Times Dispatch ... a hard hearted editorial links the non-criminal immigration violations of dreamers with "selling drugs" and "stealing cars" ... or, as is increasingly popular among immigration opponents, "breaking into houses." But, the children who are facing uncertain futures did none of these things...they simply were born to parents who came here to seek a better life. No one is suggesting that their parents get "off the hook" as this editorial suggests. But, allowing their parents to pay penalties and get on the path to legalization if they haven't committed criminal acts will restore respect for the rule of law, enhance our nation's security and keep these families together in their pursuit of the American dream.

THE CHILDREN
Illegal Aliens
Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial
June 22, 2007

The touching story about Iria Gomez-Garcia and her two younger brothers highlights a painful dilemma inherent in the immigration debate. The three children recently took part in the Dreams Across America Tour by traveling to Washington and sharing their story at a rally in favor of looser immigration laws.

The dilemma, of course, is that the children are the victims of a cruel set of circumstances: Their parents are in the country illegally.

Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency already have tried to round up their father, who has an outstanding deportation order hanging over his head. Dad hasn't eaten dinner with the kids or slept under the same roof in months. Mom, who has overstayed her visa, wouldn't consent to be identified in a news story. No one can fail to be touched by Iria's plaintive appeal to federal authorities: "Give [my parents] papers so we can live in peace."

Many children of parents who sell drugs or steal cars want to live in peace, too. But that's not a sufficient reason to let their parents off the hook.

Is it wrong to want to live in America? Of course not. It's not wrong to want a nice house, either. But it's wrong to break into someone else's house -- and it's wrong to violate the law and break into America, too. There's a right way to do things, and a wrong way. Iria's parents picked the wrong way.

Now their children are sad. That's not America's fault -- it's theirs.