Students Rally For DREAM Act

By Sameea Kamal, The Daily Californian
October 9, 2007

Some UC Berkeley students have a DREAM, and that is the passing of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, which provides financial aid for students regardless of their legal status.

By Any Means Necessary, a student advocacy group for immigrant rights, led a march Monday at noon to call on Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign the DREAM Act, which recently passed through the legislature for the second time. Students have rallied to push the governor to sign the bill by the Oct. 10 deadline rather than veto it as he did last year.

On Monday, UC Berkeley protesters marched to the Chancellor’s Office, where they asked the chancellor to continue his support of the bill.

Last Thursday, BAMN students joined with other schools in a march in Sacramento, where over 1,000 people protested at the state capitol. BAMN is currently circulating a petition, which they plan to present to the governor’s office at a press conference next week.

“We as students understand the importance of education to the economic and social prosperity of the state and we don’t accept the racist, dead-end idea that some of us deserve legalized discrimination,” said Ronald Cruz, a BAMN member and organizer of the protest. “(The walkouts in Los Angeles) just ushered in a new era for all people. … Many who marched for the Jena 6 who were inspired by mass mobilizations of the Latino community. More people are learning that when you fight you win.”

But despite the support the protesters have seen, there are many opposed to the passage of the act.

“Right now we are spending billions and billions of taxpayer money on people that are not in our country legally,” said Rick Oltman, director of public relations for Californians for Population Stabilization. “We don’t want people to take up spaces that should go to American citizen students or foreign students that are here on a school visa. We don’t have unlimited seats in classrooms or unlimited resources.”

Contact Sameea Kamal at [email protected] .

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Copyright 2007 The Daily Californian