The following letter was written by Erica - a Vanderbilt student, TIRRC volunteer, and strong ally of the Nashville DREAM Act Committee. Thanks Erica for letting us share this beautiful plea for the DREAM Act.
Dear President Barack Obama,
Thank you so much for your open support of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. This bipartisan legislation addresses the situation faced by many undocumented youth who were brought to the United States years ago as immigrant children and have since grown up here, attended American schools and have kept out of trouble. These undocumented youth are not presented with a pathway to documentation, which leads to a series of issues that many Americans face: gang violence, high High school drop out rates, self-segregation, and lack of access to resources, especially financial resources. Americans have always chastised each wave of immigration in this country. We need to focus on our original beliefs of Emma Lazarus’ famous poem The New Colossus, which is graven on a tablet on the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Lady Liberty’s lamp does not come equipped with an on/off switch.
I am from Staten Island, New York and am now attending school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee due to Deborah Bial’s Posse Scholarship. In Staten Island I worked with “at risk teens” otherwise known as gang youth, in an organization I helped create titled Eye-Openers: Youth Anti-Violence Task Force. The major reason many young people feel they have to become part of a gang is they never see a pathway to being more then an illegal alien. They have no hope. There is no social security number granted to undocumented youth upon graduation day; hence, they have no reason to continue and complete high school. There is no future career. A student can continue their studies and never have the opportunity to gain a well-paying job. Instead the young people are taught that they must be satisfied with the day laboring jobs that people hire them for, or they sadly turn to illegal activity such as drugs and violence just to make ends meet. We need to stop failing these young people. We need to take a stance and protect the future of undocumented youth in America.
I am very excited that you have spoken about DREAM Act before, and fully support it, however with each passing day that the senate does not vote, peoples lives are stuck in limbo. I am privileged born an American. My fellow classmates from my local high school cannot all say the same. My continuation into higher education was made possible because of my eligibility, due to my social security number, to apply for scholarships that have brought me to Vanderbilt University. Without a social security number I do not know what path I would have taken. These young people need to have hope instilled in them. They need to see that if they continue to stay out of trouble, and achieve academically they will have the opportunity to begin the pathway to documentation.
In the long run this opportunity leads to more taxable dollars. A single person with a bachelor’s degree who earns an average $60,000 of taxable income will contribute $9,640 to taxes and welfare annually; in a 40-year span he/she will have contributed $385,000. We have already invested in the education of these students and should allow them to reach their full potential and contribute to our society. Ultimately the DREAM Act ensures that no child in America is denied his/her dream of having a better life if s/he is willing to work for it. Please do not forget the young people of America that are simply asking for an opportunity to call himself or herself an American citizen.
Respectfully yours,
Erica
Vanderbilt University
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My name is Sara. I was born in Nayarit, Mexico. My parents brought me to the U.S when I was only 3 months old. I have been ever since; growing up in this country is what makes me who I am. I am now 16 years old and a junior in high school. Every day I go to school, all I hear is what college everybody is going to and where I plan to go. My mom and dad decided to move to the U.S because they wanted a better future for themselves and their children. The main reason that we still live here is simply because it has become our country. It is filled with opportunities and freedom and we have lived here for as long as we can recall and have earned the honor of saying that. We’ve come to love and honor this country.
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