Round Five for the DREAM Act AS/COA Online 04/03/09

Enactment of the DREAM Act would allow some undocumented students to gain legal status. (AP Photo)

In a first step to bring immigration reform back to the front burner, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Rubin (D-IL) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) in the Senate on March 26. A similar bill called the American Dream Act was submitted in the House of Representatives in a bipartisan effort. Yet, despite domestic debate over immigration in recent years, the controversial initiative has not reached the national spotlight. As an example, during President Barack Obama’s interactive town hall meeting held on March 26, none of the top ten questions voted on by more than 3.5 million people were related to immigration reform.

The DREAM Act offers a two-step legalization process for children described as “1.5ers.” As Washington Post columnist Marcela Sanchez explained in a 2007 article, “One-point-fivers are neither first-generation immigrants, adults who immigrated to the United States; nor are they second-generation, children born here of immigrant parents.” According to the National Immigration Law Center, students who came to the United States before turning 16 at least five years before the bill’s enactment could gain conditional permanent resident status if they have clean criminal records and attain high school graduation or college acceptance. To upgrade from conditional to permanent status, participants must then finish two years of college or serve a minimum of two years in the U.S. military.

How many people would benefit from the measure? Research from 2003 by the Pew Hispanic Center published in a Congressional Research Service report estimated that “each year 65,000 undocumented immigrants graduate high school who have lived in the country for more than five years.” In 2006, the Migration Policy Institute calculated that roughly 360,000 undocumented high school graduates would benefit from the measure that year alone. The Center for Immigration Studies reported in 2007 that 2.1 million could qualify for legal status under the DREAM Act.

The legislation was first introduced in 2001 and rejected four times. But the fifth round may be the charm. As the Orlando Sentinal’s “Hispanosphere” blog points out, “[N]ow Democrats have control of U.S. Congress with a president who has expressed support and voted in favor of this legislation in the last go-round.”

Whether consideration of the DREAM Act represents near-term action on comprehensive immigration reform remains unclear. In a recent visit to Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that immigration reform is “a high priority” for Obama’s administration. “We believe strongly that there have to be changes made, and we hope we will be able to pursue those in the coming months,” she said. In early March, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a San Francisco church crowd that “we cannot wait any longer for fair and just immigration reform.” However, during this week’s visit to Costa Rica, Vice President Joe Biden warned Central American leaders that the ailing economy hinders immediate action on U.S. immigration reform.

Read the article as originally published at the AS/COA website.

Literacy Hotline Takes its Last Call City Limits.org 09/04/07

The 1.2 million New York City residents who speak English “less than very well” have just lost the city’s major referral source for literacy classes, the Literacy Referral Hotline of the Literacy Assistance Center.The hotline closed Friday after 24 years of service because the state Education Department, which provided $280,000 per year for the last five years, decided not to renew its contract. The hotline – to which the city’s 311 help line directed all requests for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes – not only aided immigrants in their quest to learn English, but also referred native English speakers looking to better their language and math skills, parents who wanted to tutor their children and would-be literacy volunteers.

“I am heartbroken,” said LAC Executive Director Elyse Rudolph. “We receive thousands of calls every year, and our operators take the time to ask the right questions so we can provide the most useful information to our callers according with their needs, location and budget.”

The LAC hotline received more than 12,000 calls last year from all over the state, but the majority came from the city’s five boroughs. Between January and August of this year, the hotline answered more than 7,700 calls. Spending an average of seven to 10 minutes per call, the line operators spoke English, Spanish, Creole and French Creole and relayed information from a computerized database with thousands of free and low-cost programs offering GED test preparation, English language classes and vocational training around the state.

In one sign of the demand for language courses, the CUNY Adult Literacy Program has approximately 13,000 students enrolled, according to its director, Leslie Oppenheim. “We referred thousands of applicants each year to the LAC hotline, so with us it is more like an inverse referral system – but nevertheless, it is the only place we can tell them to go,” Oppenheim said.

According to the state education department, however, Oppenheim’s sense of loss need not be so acute. She, Rudolph and others were not aware last week, but the state plans to replace the LAC hotline with an online referral service provided through Rockefeller College at SUNY-Albany. State Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn says that a new website will be up and running by Oct. 1 (and reachable through nysed.gov) to provide the same information as the hotline. It will be the place to find adult literacy and GED programs for the entire state.

Dunn said the hotline “has provided an exceptional level of service over the past 20 years,” but was cut because federal Workforce Investment Act funding was reduced by more than half a million dollars. “It has become imperative to find more cost-effective ways to deliver services to the public,” he said.

The city Department of Education also operates intake centers to match those seeking literacy services with providers. The centers can be found by calling 311.

Although LAC’s Rudolph had said of the hotline, “we are willing to reconfigure it and make it more cost-efficient … we are knocking the doors of foundations and private enterprises to find the funds to keep it working,” the new online service may make that unnecessary.

The demand for literacy services, however, doesn’t look like it will cease anytime soon. Although the 2005 American Community Survey reported that 1.2 million New Yorkers speak English “less than very well,” only 41,585 New Yorkers were enrolled in state-funded ESOL classes that year, or 3.4 percent of those with limited language skills. According to a recent report by the Center for an Urban Future, City Limits’ sister think tank, there are simply nowhere near enough ESOL services for the state’s 4 million immigrants, and industry considers it a major handicap to business growth.

Read the article as originally published at the Citylimits website.

Rodents Invade Baruch The Ticker 12/04/06

Lunch time at Baruch means pizza on the third floor where all the club and student association offices are located. It also means hundreds of students getting their lunch from the cafeteria or nearby food carts and using the front of the building at 25th Street as an improvised dining room. Faculty and administrative staff order food almost everyday or sometimes they bring their own.

In recent weeks, weather changes and the increasing amount of garbage and food leftovers produced by the students and faculty alike are increasing the amount of rodent reports around campus. Every time a report is received at the Department of Building and Grounds…

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Dreams Deferred Dollars & Sense 05/15/05

Cynthia just graduated from North Babylon High School in Suffolk County, NY. Now she is ready to enter the job market, apply for financial aid to continue her education and maybe get her first car. But all these goals are out of reach for Cynthia because, while she grew up like any American child, she is an undocumented immigrant. Like tens of thousands of other young people in the United States, Cynthia discovered this unwelcome surprise when she started to look for jobs and dream of international travel. Until she wanted to apply for a Social Security card, driver’s license or a passport, she had never known that her parents, who brought her to this country from Peru when they immigrated 13 years ago…

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To view the full 2005 Dollars & Sense issue, click here.

Suicide on the Rise among College Students The Ticker 4/18/05

Suicidal tendencies among college students are increasing, according to a new study published in the journal of the American Association of Suicidology. Results show that from a sample of 1,865 students interviewed at four major universities, five percent had attempted suicide while in college.

Several universities and colleges around the nation are beefing up their counseling services to manage the rising numbers of students suffering with…

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