Des Moines Register
04-11-06
Her college dream is slipping away
After years in Iowa schools, Sandra watches Congress holds her future in its
hands
DANA BOONE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Sandra, 19, an undocumented immigrant from Waterloo, feels like her life is on
hold.
Her family moved to Waterloo from the Mexican state of Michoacan when she
was a young child. Her parents worked in a meatpacking plant.
Growing up, she went to Waterloo schools. She earned good grades and ran
track at West High School, where she graduated in 2005. She dreamed of going
to college and becoming a doctor. She felt no different from other people. She
considered herself an American, an Iowan.
But her most cherished dream is now on hold as Congress debates the fate of
immigration proposals that could ultimately brand her a citizen or felon.
Her life is on hold because her immigration status disqualifies her for federal
student loans, grants and scholarships.
"When I started high school, I didn't know that I wasn't going to be able to go to
college," said Sandra, who asked that her last name not be printed because
she's undocumented. "But when I graduated, it was like boom . . . my face on the
door."
The DREAM Act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien
Minors, could help Sandra and other undocumented immigrants make their
college and citizenship dreams a reality.
The act, part of provisions passed recently by the Senate Judiciary Committee,
would allow undocumented students who arrived in the United States before age
16 and who were here at least five years before the provision is enacted to
become legal residents after meeting certain conditions. The controversial
immigration legislation, which was not part of immigration provisions approved by
the House, has stalled recently.
Some Iowans don't want to give immigrants access to federal loans and
citizenship for what they said is breaking the law.
He's opposed
Retired meat inspector Albert Barwick, 69, of Agency said it has angered him to
watch news accounts of immigrants "out protesting in the streets" for rights to
citizenship and education that he said they don't deserve.
"We are now inundated with illegal immigrants, and they seem to have more
rights than we American citizens have," said Barwick, who has four grown
children and nine grandchildren.
Gina Cassis, executive director of El Centro Latinoamericano, a Waterloo
community center that serves 5,000 Latinos from the Cedar Falls and Waterloo
area, said current laws are unfair.
"They were brought as babies. They have grown up here," she said. "They
should be considered as an Iowa resident."
If approved, the act also would eliminate a federal provision discouraging states
from providing in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. According to the
Education Commission of the States, nine states allow undocumented
immigrants to pay in-state tuition: California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New
York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Washington. About 30 states have considered
similar proposals, the Denver-based advocacy group found.
In Iowa, undocumented immigrants who attend public universities pay more than
three times the rate of resident students, according to the Iowa Board of
Regents. For example, base tuition this fall at Iowa State University is $5,110
for resident students. The tuition rate for nonresident students is $17,334.
"A student that is not considered a resident or doesn't have the proper paperwork
would be charged nonresident rates," said Diana Gonzalez , policy and
operations officer for the Iowa Board of Regents.
She said she does not know how many undocumented students attend regents
schools.
At Wartburg
At Wartburg College in Waverly, officials said all 1,811 students all pay the same
tuition rate, which is $21,980 a year. More than 96 percent of the students
receive federal financial aid, officials said.
Edith Waldstein, vice president for enrollment management at Wartburg, said
students who enroll on a part-time basis, like Sandra, don't have to show any
documents to take classes. The college wouldn't know whether the students
were undocumented, she said. Undocumented students at Wartburg are likely a
"very, very rare occurrence," she said.
"Even though it's very much a situation we need to be aware of and thinking
about for the future, it's still important to remember that colleges and universities
are not in the position of being the watchdogs for citizenship status," Waldstein
said.
Estimating the number of undocumented immigrants who graduate from high
schools across the country each year is difficult, but the Urban Institute, a
Washington, D.C.-based research group, puts the figure at 65,000. The Pew
Hispanic Center on Thursday released a report that estimates the country has 11
million to 12 million undocumented people.
Willing to work
Sandra said Waterloo residents and an anonymous donor paid for her to take
psychology and English classes at Wartburg last fall, but she could afford only
one class this semester. She said she is willing to work nights and long hours to
pay her own way, but she can't because she doesn't want to do anything "illegal"
such as using fake documents to get a job that might hinder her chances of
eventual citizenship.
"Illegal people don't breach the laws by working illegally just because they want
to, it's because they need to," she said. "Still, I don't want to do it. I don't want to
risk it if that's my only chance of getting my education and a Social Security
number."
Cassis said Latinos drop out of high school in rates much higher than others, and
undocumented Latinos who know they can't attend college will find little reason to
finish high school.
"Why pay for their education from kindergarten through high school and then not
let them go on to college and become professionals?" she said. "That doesn't
make any sense."
It makes sense to Barwick, who said he has sent letters to top government
officials in Washington, complaining about undocumented immigrants.
"It's our tax dollars that are spent to educate them," Barwick said. "And I'm very
much against that."
Barwick, who spends most of his time watching news programs and reading
newspapers, said undocumented immigrants inundate communities "with all this
illegal activity."
Iowa lives
Cassis said undocumented immigrants work and build lives in Iowa. They will
keep coming, she said. It doesn't make sense that the immigrants' only choice
seems to be to work in low-level factory jobs and live in fear as part of an illegal
underclass, she said.
It's a class Sandra desperately wants to escape. She's grateful to her parents,
who have faced the risk of deportation daily so she and her siblings can have a
chance at better lives in America.
A chance to escape Mexico, where Sandra has vague memories of being hungry
and shoeless.
"It seems that nobody cares about people like me," Sandra said. "It's a burden
when you wait every day for good news and all you get is bad news: laws against
illegal people. No aid for us. So every day becomes harder, harder and more
uncertain. It's a lot of fear."
Eventually, lawmakers will decide her fate. Until then, she waits. No job. Her
college dreams slipping away.
"They should thank God they have the privilege of being here legally and they
have the luck of not being born like me with all these troubles that I have to go
through," she said.