Mock graduation shares goals of DREAM Act
By Juliana Gabrovsky
April 29, 2009 11:20 p.m.
A rally on campus in the form of a  mock graduation will be held today in front of Kerckhoff Hall at noon in support of the Federal DREAM Act.
Participants will be dressed in caps and gowns while listening to student testimonials and several other speakers, including Undergraduate Students Association Council President Homaira Hosseini.
The event is part of a weeklong series of events held by the Alliance of Dreams at UCLA, a coalition of more than 20 organizations supporting the bill.
The Federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act would provide undocumented high school students with a path toward citizenship if they graduate from college or serve a minimum of two years in the armed forces.
“The bill has been watered down a lot, but that’s OK because now we have a lot of bipartisan support,” said Andrea Ortega, a fourth-year applied mathematics and Chicana and Chicano studies student. “We really don’t want it to be seen as an immigration bill. It’s an education bill.”
In order for students to qualify for citizenship under the bill, they must meet a series of requirements, including proof that they entered the United States before they were 16 years old, have earned a high school diploma or GED and have been accepted into an institution of higher learning.
Ortega said that the bill does not provide for any financial aid to undocumented students. While undocumented students are still ineligible for any state or federal aid, some undocumented students in California are currently eligible to pay only in-state fees, rather than international student fees, under the Assembly Bill 540, which was passed in 2001.
“With the mock graduation, we really just want to raise awareness of the future these students face after graduation. Without citizenship, their diplomas really don’t mean anything,” Ortega said.
Ortega said that when IDEAS, a student organization providing support to undocumented students, was first started on campus, there was no support felt at all for its cause.
Since then, she said support has grown tremendously.
“Now we also have a lot of administrative support. We really appreciate that our chancellor has gone out and publicly supported the undocumented student community,” Ortega said.
Edith Bell, a fourth-year political science and international development studies student, said while she is not an undocumented student, she knows many people who are.
“When you hear their stories, you just cry,” Bell said.
Many students do not even find out they are undocumented until they apply to college, Bell added.
“These students are amazing. They can’t receive financial aid but aren’t supposed to be working legally. They aren’t even allowed to drive to school. I mean, if they can graduate from college, they deserve to do something with it,” Ortega said.
Some supporters of the bill argue that it will benefit the nation’s economy, as it will produce college-educated taxpayers.
“It’s such a stigma that this is just a Latino issue, but it affects everyone,” Bell said.
