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Volume 71, Issue 120,
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
News Students rally for immigration Campus organization coordinates sit-in to show support of DREAM act and protest bill by RACHAEL SEELEY
A group of UH students held a sit-in that ran to nearly eight-hours in front of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library Tuesday to support proposed legislative measures that would offer legal residency to many undocumented immigrant students. A crowd of nearly 50 students sat, stood, held signs and distributed literature to passers-by throughout the day. "These immigrants are people, and they are just trying to get a better life for themselves and their families," communication sophomore Aracely Luna said.
Students carry signs of support Tuesday for immigration legislation that would legalize undocumented students. Young Immigrants for a Better Future organized the sit-in. Joanna Garcia/
The Daily Cougar Luna was two years old when she arrived in the United States from Mexico. Now a legal citizen, she said she thinks undocumented immigrants should have the same opportunities she did. Jovenes Inmigrantes por un Futuro Mejor (Young Immigrants for a Better Future) organized the event which promoted the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minorities Act, or DREAM Act, and protested a bill that would stiffen penalties for undocumented immigrants who are already living in the United States. The DREAM Act would grant undocumented students who meet certain criteria temporary legal status that could eventually lead to U.S. citizenship. "They want to finish school … They are working here, they are busting their butts just like any other student and they want to live the dream of putting their degree to use … They're not planning to leave," Jesus Benitez, a graduate assistant in the UH Center for Mexican American Studies said. Texas House Bill 1403 already grants many undocumented immigrants the opportunity to attend Texas universities at in-state tuition rates, but does not grant them residency after graduation or the ability to legally work in the United States. "I don't think it's possible for a human being to be illegal," English senior and organizer of the event Lauren Gonzales said. "My boyfriend's illegal, he's a 1403 student, and when he graduates from college he won't be able to enter the work force because he doesn't have a social security number," Gonzales said. Psychology senior Julita Rincon and several fellow protestors also support amnesty for all of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States. "Basically, I will graduate, and without The DREAM Act, I won't be able to find a job in my field," Rincon said. "That's my mom, that's my dad, that's my uncle, that's everybody, that's people that you know," Rincon said. News of the sit-in spread by text message, word-of-mouth and through the social-networking Web site Myspace.com. "We have more than enough jobs, it's almost as though
these aliens are put through hell trying to get over here," Gonzales said.
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