I have a wonderful 8th grader in one of my classes. I was taking her home from a school event recently (taking presents to a local crisis center) and we were talking about her future. She comes from basically nothing and is the most amazing kid I know. She is in drama, on the volleyball team, is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Peer Assistance and Leadership (of which I am the sponsor) and is the president of the National Junior Honor Society at our school and the youth group at her church. She a positive force, outspoken but always positive, and is well liked by every peer group and all her teachers. She lives in a run down and very dangerous area and every time I take her home, I fight the urge to keep driving past her run down shack and take her home with me.
Anyway, so we were discussing her future, stemming from her talking about how she used to be scared at hearing bullets being shot near her home every day but now she is used to it and me telling her that it isn't like that everywhere. Her response was shock and disbelief. I asked her what she was going to do after high school and she told me she wanted to go to college but that she knew that would be difficult for her since she has no social security number and no way to get one. She said her nineteen-year-old sister could not go to college for the same reason. She all but told me outright that her parents are here illegally.
Does she have any options once she is an adult to get legal citizenship and a social security card? I have no idea about any of this so any information that I can pass along to her would be much appreciated. She is only 14 now but she has big dreams and I want to help her in every way possible. Thanks!
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Was she born here?
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: Was she born here?
lol, just what I was getting ready to type out. Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
No, she was born in Mexico.
Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :
I went through this exact same thing. My mother became a citizen and made me a citizen right before I turned 18. I had been here illegally for the last 13 years of my life, when I became a legal resident, I was 16. I got my citizenship about 6 months before my coming of age. I think there was a bill being passed to help students like her, I'll try to find out more about it. Back in my elementary days, there was a bill here in California that was meant to forbid all illegal imigrant children from enrolling in public schools. Many mothers panicked and lots of classmates were dropped. Luckily, my school's principal, a marvelous woman, said that as long as that bill did not become law, she would not deny education to any child. My mother didn't take me out of school because of the same thing, if it ain't law, it ain't law. The bill didn't pass.
Anyhoot, as I said, I'll research more about this subject, I hope I find something useful!
Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :
Catholic Charities does a lot of work in this area, but I don't have anything specific, unfortunately.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I think that DREAM Act is wonderful, although there is a part of me that wonders what it will cost...and if it incourages people to continue to flood the US illegally....
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: I think that DREAM Act is wonderful, although there is a part of me that wonders what it will cost...and if it incourages people to continue to flood the US illegally....
Well, to lift the conditional status, they have to either get 2 years of college, 2 years of military service, or 910 hours of community service. If someone were to do any of those things, it shows they are rather dedicated in their desire to be here...and willing to work harder than many americans born here in order to stay.
While I think we should crack down on illegal immigration (if you want to be here, you should come legally), I don't think children should be punished for their parents crimes, particularly when they are showing that they want to be a productive member of society.
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
Yet another victim of Mercantilsm and the war on immigration. I have states, a thousand times over, that this sort of thing is wrong, but I do not write laws, nor do my Congressmen and Senators care what I think. I am sorry I cannot be of more help.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
In Maryland I heard the debate was whether or not they would have to pay the out of state tuition.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lupus: While I think we should crack down on illegal immigration (if you want to be here, you should come legally)
I think the continuation of this is that if you want to come here legally we should allow you in (barring some due diligence checks). But then again, Lyrhawn is having a cow just reading that, and may try to poke my eyes out with pine cone
-Bok
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
But we won't, becouse we are Mercantilists and scream liberty out of one side of our mouth while happily denying to many.
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