1.Minnesota Daily (MN): Dream Act supporters hold protest at Minnesota governor's

mansion
By Liala Helal
Wednesday June 8, 2005

2.The Patriot Ledger (MA): COMMENTARY: Immigrant students deserve a chance
By Lena Deevy
Thursday June 9, 2005

3.Tucson Citizen (AZ): Illegal migrants go for degrees; ID laws mean some probably

will never practice in their fields after graduation.
Thursday June 9, 2005

*****

1.Minnesota Daily (MN): Dream Act supporters hold protest at Minnesota governor's

mansion
By Liala Helal
Wednesday June 8, 2005

Approximately 120 people protested outside Gov. Tim Pawlenty's mansion Monday

chanting, "1, 2, 3, 4, we don't wanna mop the floors," and, "Bring the dream back!"

The group was protesting Pawlenty's alleged threat to veto the entire higher-education

bill unless the Dream Act was removed from it.

The Dream Act would allow undocumented students from Minnesota high schools who have

lived in the state for at least three years to pay in-state tuition at Minnesota

colleges and universities. Currently, such students are classified as international

students, pay out-of-state tuition and are not eligible to receive financial aid.

The protest was organized primarily by Centro Campesino, an organization with the

mission of improving the lives of migrant workers and rural Hispanics. They took

protestors on a bus tour to several areas in Minnesota throughout the day to show

their anger with the governor and ended at his mansion.

Centro Campesino has a partnership with the University's Chicano studies department.

Many at the protest said they were upset because after months of efforts to bring the

Dream Act to legislators, Pawlenty "killed it."

Brian McClung, Pawlenty's press secretary, said the concern was that the Dream Act

would "probably be illegal" under federal law.

"The 1986 Federal Immigration Act prohibits states from treating noncitizens different

from citizens of other states," he said.

But Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, the chief author of the state's Dream Act, said

that is "absolutely not true."

Pappas said the Dream Act does not benefit noncitizens over citizens because it states

the student must have resided in Minnesota for at least three years and graduated from

a Minnesota high school.

"It's a different class of people we're talking about than what the federal law

forbids," she said.

During the protest, Susana DeLeon, a University alumna and an attorney for Centro

Campesino, said if Pawlenty is concerned about being fair to people out of state, he

needs to consider that they don't live in the state or pay Minnesota taxes.

Pappas said nine other states have already passed the Dream Act and "none have been

challenged successfully."

A number of Democrats voted against the higher-education bill because the Dream Act

was not included, she said.

Pappas said she is irritated with the governor because in the winter and spring, she

spoke to him several times and he did not give any indication that he was going to

veto the bill.

"It's just an anti-immigrant ideology and anti-student in this case," she said.

But McClung said Pawlenty was never involved in deciding what to put in the higher-

education bill.

"In the end, everyone agreed to the final bill as it was," he said.

Although she voted for the bill as it was, Pappas said she still would have preferred

including the Dream Act.

Pappas reintroduced the bill as a stand-alone bill last week.

"These kids have played by the rules, they've studied hard, they've gotten good grades

and they have a right to an education," Pappas said.

Ray Roybal, a University alumnus and retired teacher from Chicano studies, said the

children affected by the bill are bright and will be educated anyway.

"It's not that they have a problem being educated, it's that the government has a

problem educating them," he said.

Craig Swan, vice provost for undergraduate education at the University, said the Dream

Act could add to the University's diversity, although it is not the only way to do so.

"I don't see how it could hurt," he said.

During the protest, the sprinklers on the governor's lawn were turned up, and the

water extended past the sidewalks, spraying many of the protestors.

"The water doesn't scare us!" they responded and continued to protest.

University student Marc Nicolo attended the protest wearing a T-shirt with the words,

"Fire Bruininks, Save 'GC.' "

"It seems like there's a lot of stuff in Minnesota going on to limit education in all

aspects," he said.

*****

2.The Patriot Ledger (MA): COMMENTARY: Immigrant students deserve a chance
By Lena Deevy
Thursday June 9, 2005

Immigrants from across the globe still come to this country for the same reasons as

those of centuries past: to escape poverty or war, and to make a better life for their

families.

Our current immigration system is so outdated that the majority of those who want to

come to the United States are not allowed to apply for a visa to enter the country.

Had these regulations been in place during the famine in Ireland, the ancestors of so

many families in Massachusetts

would have faced a bitter choice: let bureaucracy force them to return to starvation

and death, or live and work in the United States as undocumented (''illegal'')

immigrants.

How would the history - and legacy - of Massachusetts be different if those many waves

of Irish immigrants did not grace our shores?

The Irish Immigration Center, headquartered in Boston, serves immigrants from Ireland

and many other nations. As an institution, we recognize that the problem is not with

immigrants themselves, or with our nation's long tradition of welcoming newcomers.

The problem is outdated regulations that are out of step with modern social and

economic reality.

Fortunately, Irish immigrants of past generations were able to come to this land and

find opportunities to prosper. Honoring that tradition means ensuring it is available

to immigrants today.

In particular, the immigration center receives multiple calls for help from talented,

high-achieving young people who are caught in the web of our impractical immigration

laws.

Having come to the United States as children, they have excelled in our state's

elementary and secondary schools and desperately want to attend college.

As we all know, social and economic opportunities increase greatly for those with a

college education. Unfortunately, many immigrants living in Massachusetts today are

prevented from doing so by current law and forced to remain in legal limbo.

The immigration center strongly supports passage of the In-State Tuition Bill (S. 764/

H. 1230).

This legislation will provide an estimated 400 bright immigrant students who are

residents of the state and who are graduating from our high schools with the

opportunity to attend state colleges and universities at the same tuition rates as

their peers.

There have been allegations that this bill would cost the state money or take slots

away from native-born students.

These arguments are disturbing in the way they seek to divide our community's young

people into different groups, and then value some more than others.

But that is not the only reason to reject them: When it comes to the facts, these

arguments also happen to be patently false.

This bill would not cost the state money.

In fact, it has been estimated that more than $1 million in revenue would be generated

through tuition payments from students who would otherwise not attend college at all.

The bill would not take slots away from other equally deserving students, as most of

the schools affected have open enrollment, and the others are struggling to fill empty

seats.

That is why the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and the Legislature's Ways and

Means Committee have endorsed the bill.

In addition, the Massachusetts Community College Presidents Council, the Massachusetts

State College Presidents Council, the Massachusetts Urban Superintendents Network, and

U-Mass Boston all agree that the bill would benefit their institutions, and have

publicly supported the proposal.

Massachusetts has benefited from generation after generation of immigrants who have

accessed our public higher education institutions and gone on to professional careers.

We must act to ensure that immigrants today can have the same chance to attend college

and fulfill their promise as those of centuries past.

We urge elected officials to stand up for Massachusetts' immigrant traditions and vote

in support of the In-State Tuition Bill.

Lena Deevy is executive director of the Irish Immigration Center in Boston.

*****

3.Tucson Citizen (AZ): Illegal migrants go for degrees; ID laws mean some probably

will never practice in their fields after graduation.
Thursday June 9, 2005

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Toward the back of a cheering crowd at Westchester County Center,

Sofia Perez's following strained to watch her become the first in the family to get a

college diploma.
To get there was no small achievement.

Perez was brought illegally from Mexico by her parents at age 8 and grew up in South

Bronx without legal status and no way to get state and federal tuition assistance.

A $56,482 private scholarship, donated by a Westchester woman she never met, allowed

Perez to earn a Mercy College degree in psychology.

Her next step is uncertain.

"She wants to keep going, but the problem is the papers," said her husband, Cosme

Bermeo.

Perez, 24, is one of an unknown number of illegal immigrants - an estimated 3,000 in

New York City alone - who have pursued college degrees in the United States without

any promise of gaining citizenship or working in their chosen fields.

It might take an act of Congress for Perez to work toward a master's degree as a child

counselor, given the requisite fingerprinting and background checks.

"I told her, just keep going ... We're going to find a way to get something in the

future," said her husband, 32, who left Ecuador when he ran out of money for his

psychology degree. "We want to do a lot of things here, but also we want to be legal

in this country."

Traditionally, commencement marks the beginning of something, such as clearing a

hurdle, but when you are in the U.S. illegally, it's as though you hit a wall.

Illegal immigrants are not eligible for state or federal tuition assistance.

Perez's brothers were willing to help pay her tuition at City University of New York,

but illegal immigrants were required to pay the out-of-state rate of $6,800.

That was double the in-state tuition - and she wasn't eligible to legalize her

immigration status.

Determined to help, Tirza Clarke, then her high school counselor, happened to meet

Lucie Lapovsky, then the president of Mercy College.

Clarke urged Lapovsky to consider Perez for a scholarship.

The school created a scholarship fund to help students become the first in their

families to attend college.

Perez is the eighth and final recipient, having received the largest portion of the

$173,000 fund.

Her grant covered four years of tuition, now $11,400 a year, and partial room and

board.

"It does fit into the overall scope and mission of what we raise money for in terms of

scholarships," said Mary Pat Wagner, Mercy's vice president of institutional

advancement. "Mercy's mission as a whole is to provide access to students who might

not otherwise have the opportunity to attend college."

The college offers a range of scholarships, including $4 million in assistance grants

to the most disadvantaged students.

The scholarship Perez received was private and the donor does not want her name

published.

"I don't even know how to say thank you to her," Perez said.

Some universities turn away illegal immigrants, but most admit them, said Josh

Bernstein, director of federal policy for the National Immigration Law Center.

Nine states including New York have passed laws since 2001 allowing such students to

pay less expensive in-state tuition rates.

Due to funds involved, their presence has been an issue at public universities.

Perez said she hoped to become a permanent U.S. resident as part of a residency

application by her mother.

For now, Perez and her husband live in New Jersey and work for the catering company

where they met. Her father, Isidoro Perez, 51, works at a diner. Her mother, Teresa

Guadalupe Ostorva, 47, is a housekeeper.

Controversy has surrounded any plan in Congress to legalize illegal immigrants, but a

proposal specifically for college students has one of the better chances of passing,

Bernstein said.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would offer a path to legal

residency for students who were brought to the U.S. at age 15 or younger, at least

five years earlier. An estimated 65,000 students a year are expected to benefit.

"There's a general recognition among almost all Americans that our immigration system

is broken and needs to be reformed," Bernstein said.

Some groups oppose what they call "miniamnesties" for college students. "It seems

troubling, also just on the issue of fundamental fairness, that somehow the government

would curry favor with those who are here without the consent of the U.S.

government...." said John Keeley of the Center for Immigration Studies.