Children in the Shadows

They know they’re not legally American. But the vast majority of them don’t realize how serious that is. Until they finish high school. And 5,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year in Florida. That’s when they hit their first barrier: college.

Happy 18th Birthday
"Imagine that, at four years old, you’re crossing the Mexico-Arizona border," says Casey Wolff, an immigration attorney at Paulich, Slack & Wolff, P.A. "You’re now 18. You graduate from Barron Collier [High School], and you’re in the top 5 percent of your class. Under our current state and federal laws, your life is now over."

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Some teens, like Alex, do go to college. But there are many obstacles to doing so. Illegal immigrants do not qualify for financial aid. They have to pay nonresident tuition. And there isn’t much economic incentive to get a degree because their job opportunities after graduation will be limited by their legal status. As a result, most of these teens leave high school and join the ranks of the 7 million undocumented workers in the United States.

Five years ago, legislation was proposed in Congress to address this. The bill would offer illegal immigrant high school graduates a path to citizenship under certain circumstances and qualify them for in-state tuition at colleges and universities.

Proponents of the legislation call it the DREAM Act. (DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors.) Opponents call it the Nightmare Act. It was defeated in a test vote in the Senate last October, and its future remains uncertain.

Because a number of legislators feel that these children should not be punished for their parents’ decisions, the bill still has bipartisan support. The DREAM Act could put more skilled workers in the marketplace, thereby adding to state and federal coffers.

Critics say the act would encourage more parents to bring their children here illegally. They argue that the children have already had a free education through high school. And that they are breaking the law and shouldn’t be given privileges like in-state tuition and permanent residency.

Wolff disagrees. "The DREAM Act was the perfect legislative solution to a problem affecting innocents. It’s a wonderful proposal that went nowhere. And the reason it went nowhere should shock Americans. Nobody who benefited from it would give you money for your campaign. Because the young don’t vote."

But they’re starting to. And in big numbers.

Dream. Act.
Two-thirds of the children born to undocumented parents are U.S.-born citizens. They grow up feeling a responsibility to peers and family members who are illegal immigrants. They know how the system works. They tend to be politically aware. Once they’re old enough to vote, they do—giving voice to others.

And that voice is getting louder. The children of immigrant parents—whether legal or not—make up the fastest growing segment of children in the United States, according to the Urban Institute, which describes itself as a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization.

Many of those who can’t vote become activists. Arturo and Alex, for instance, are part of a grassroots movement to raise awareness for the DREAM Act. In fact, that’s why they agreed to be interviewed.

Alex and I talked for two hours. As we were saying goodbye, he pulled a set of keys from his
pocket and spun the ring around his index finger. Car keys. But he doesn’t have a driver’s license.

He said earlier that he couldn’t get one.

"You’re not driving home?" I asked. But I already knew the answer.

He shrugged. "Every day, you wake up. You have to do something, or you live in the shadows."
Noemi Creagan, a Florida Gulf Coast University instructor, provided translation assistance for this story.