'Dream Act' Offers Hope for Immigrant Students
On a good day, 20-year-old Elvia Flores feels she's making her family proud, studying in college to become a nurse while working nearly full-time to help pay her family's bills.
But in darker moments, Flores wonders if all the work and sacrifice is worth it.
Flores is an undocumented immigrant. And despite the nation's shortage of bilingual nurses, Flores will likely end up after graduation with little more than a low-paying restaurant job, because she lacks a Social Security number and a legal residency card.
Flores is one of about 65,000 undocumented students across the United States who graduate from high school each year, according to estimates by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit economic and social policy research organization.
For them, a high school or college diploma doesn't guarantee a good job or more money. Because as children they were brought into the country illegally, they face a lifetime in the shadows.
And still Flores goes to school, hoping she can have a better life than her parents.
Like many others, Flores is hoping for passage of federal legislation that could help her achieve her goal. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minorities Act, known as the Dream Act, would give conditional U.S. residency to students who entered the country five years or more before the bill's enactment and before they were 16 years old.
Residency would become permanent if, within six years of obtaining conditional residency, the immigrant either graduates from a two-year college, studies for two years toward a bachelor's degree, serves in the U.S. armed forces for two years or performs 910 hours of volunteer community service.
Opponents of the measure say the bill would undermine immigration law; its supporters say it would benefit relatively few -- but worthy -- students.
Rallies in support of the Dream Act were held Saturday throughout the country.
On Sept. 13, college students accompanied by members of immigrant rights, civil rights, human rights, labor and religious organizations gathered at USC to begin a 12-day fast to draw attention to the bill.
And last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to support the bill.
In Santa Ana, Flores said of the Dream Act, "It would change my whole life."
Entering Illegally
