Law could aid undocumented students at SJSU - News

Law could aid undocumented students at SJSU - News

A new law currently being debated in Congress will, if enacted, allow college students who are illegal immigrants the ability to attain citizenship upon completion of a degree, an SJSU director said.

"Currently trapped in a legal paradox, undocumented students in the United States have the right to a primary and secondary school education, but then face uncertainty upon graduation from high school," according to a publication by the College Board titled "Young Lives on Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students."

Dennis Lopez, SJSU's Educational Opportunity Program director, who has been involved in education equity programs for more than thirty years, said he believes that the Development, Relief and Dducation for Alien Minors Act, or the DREAM Act, needs to be passed.

"Undocumented students represent a tremendous human resource for this economy, for this state, and for our country, and both the state university system and this campus can benefit from undocumented students being educated in the CSU system and graduating as citizens," he said.

The DREAM Act will provide a conditional path to citizenship in exchange for completion of either a college degree or two years of military service to students that can demonstrate good moral character, according to the act's official Web site.

An estimated 26,000 undocumented youth in California will benefit from the DREAM Act, according to a Pew Foundation study.