Talking with the honors students at National Hispanic University can break your heart.
Many graduates of the private San Jose college can go on to careers as programmers or engineers in Silicon Valley industry, where educated workers soon are expected to be in short supply.
But others with valuable skills will have to go looking for work at burger joints or janitorial services, letting their degrees and knowledge go to waste. These young people have managed to achieve academic success despite the stigma of being, in the anti-immigrant parlance they despise, “illegals” — brought here by their parents, sometimes as infants, without documentation. Without green cards, they have no hope of working for Intel or Adobe, or of getting a scholarship to a University of California graduate school — let alone gaining citizenship.
This combination of individual tragedy and work force need is the reason for the Dream Act, which U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring back for a vote as soon as next week, with the support of President Barack Obama. For the sake of our economy, if not for our sense of decency, it should become law.
The Dream Act essentially carves out an exception in immigration law so that the U.S. can benefit from young people who succeed in our public schools and have the desire, ability and academic record to go to college, or who wish to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Legislation would open up state colleges and financial aid for those who qualify and would allow these highly motivated young people to earn citizenship.
The high school dropout rate in this country terrifies business leaders, who fear that in the coming decades we will not produce enough college graduates with math and science ability to fill knowledge-based jobs. This is why the Silicon Valley Leadership Group supports the Dream Act.
But it’s not just for the tech work force. What great teachers young adults with these experiences could become in disadvantaged neighborhoods, for example.
This is a difficult time to move any kind of immigration reform. The public sentiment seems to be: Send everyone home. But the kids we’re talking about may not even remember their homelands. They see themselves as Americans.
We believe some path to citizenship should exist for adult undocumented immigrants who have become part of the fabric of our communities and who contribute to our economy. Deporting the estimated 11 million undocumented residents just isn’t practical. But we understand the concern that allowing them to stay could provide others with an incentive to follow, if it’s not combined with better border security.
The Dream Act sidesteps that debate. It’s not fair to apply adult rules to young people who had no part in the decision to migrate and who have worked hard to succeed, in the tradition of America. These kids deserve a chance, and the U.S. economy needs their knowledge and ability. While we struggle to deal with kids who don’t want to be in school, shouldn’t we be celebrating those who work hard for an education and aspire to a professional career?
