For nine years the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was introduced in Congress. Every year, it failed. On Dec. 8, the DREAM Act passed in the House of Representatives by a 216 to 198 vote.
Advocates for the immigrant students the bill would help celebrated a major victory. But Charles Robbins, Stony Brook University’s vice provost for undergraduate education, said he doubted the bill would leap the final hurdle, passage in the Senate next week.
Robbins said that the bill’s chances were “not particularly good at this point” because groups in the Senate have already vowed to block it.
“None of these opportunities or freedoms or rights will occur to people unless it’s passed by both houses,” Robbins said.
Maria Contreras, a graduate student in sociology, observed that the DREAM Act is important to undocumented students who attend any educational institution.
“The DREAM act would signify that the endless work and struggles of all those working for a change has been reached,” Contreras, 23, said in an email. “It will mean that any student who values the importance of education will have an equal chance to be successful. It will mean that all students will be recognized for their academic abilities rather than for their legal status.”
Contreras was undocumented until late August of this year, when she obtained her resident card. She is still working towards getting the coveted green card. Her parents had first filed 10 years ago.
During her undergraduate years, she started working with high school students who were undocumented as well as college students, both documented and undocumented, on how to attain a higher education regardless of status. She and other Stony Brook students traveled throughout Long Island to high schools to present how undocumented students without social securities can apply to college and how to petition instate tuitions. After graduating, she was able to get a job at a non-profit organization that helps the Latino community.
“I think it’s crucial to empower the youth on just how important education is, especially the undocumented Latino youth who faces so many obstacles,” she said.
Stony Brook’s president, Samuel L. Stanley Jr., said he was glad to see the House pass the bill on Wednesday, since he has been a very strong supporter of it.
“I think it’s really, as the name suggests, part of the American dream,” Stanley said. “If you look at Stony Brook’s makeup, so many of our students come from families where they may be the first to go to college or come from families that are people who came to the United States without the standard papers.
“In terms of financial impact and so on, we haven’t done an assessment overall of what it would mean because we’ve been supporting every student, so we haven’t made any effort to do anything but provide financial aid to those who apply,” he added. “We’ve been living with the tenants of the DREAM Act essentially is what I would say.”