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Pinoy Abroad

California's landmark law to help TNTs

By ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO, GMA News

Illegal immigrants are now eligible to receive state financial aid to attend California universities and community colleges after Governor Jerry Brown signed the landmark legislation "Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors" (DREAM) Act. In the Filipino community, illegal immigrants are called TNTs, or "Tago nang tago." According to a report of the Los Angeles (LA) Times, Brown signed AB 131— opening public aid for the education of illegal immigrants—“to allow high-achieving students" who are not US residents to attend California universities and community colleges. In a statement issued on October 8 (US time), Brown said, “Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking." “The DREAM Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us," he said. California DREAM Starting in 2013, illegal immigrants who will be accepted into state universities can receive the "Cal-Grant assistance." In 2010, Cal-Grant provided to more than 370,000 low-income students grants averaging $4,500 each. The California Department of Finance said 2,500 students qualify for Cal Grants under AB 131. With this move, California is taking after Texas, where a state version of the DREAM Act was passed in 2001. According to a report of US News, the legislation, signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, allows in-state tuition for “foreign-born children of illegal immigrants" who have:

  • lived in Texas for three years; and either
  • graduated from the state’s public or accredited private schools. () AB 130, the DREAM Act’s less controversial half, was passed by the California state government in July. A month later, the state of Illinois—which has one of the highest populations of illegal aliens— passed its DREAM Act, similar to AB 130. According to the "Daily Bruin," undocumented students who wish to qualify for California DREAM Act’s aid must:
  • meet the requirements of AB 540, which allows non-residents to pay in-state tuition;
  • attend a California high school for at least three years;
  • graduate; and
  • * affirm that they are in the process of applying for legal residency. Fight for citizenship While it is a landmark feat, students in California are still having doubts about their future because the state’s DREAM Act only helps them secure a diploma. Still pending at the US Senate is the federal DREAM Act, which could grant American citizenship to undocumented students brought to the US as children. Tthe bill was thumbed down last December. Among the staunch supporters of the DREAM Act is Filipino Pulitzer recipient Jose Antonio Vargas, who admitted in a New York Times article last June that he was an undocumented immigrant since the age of 12. A petition on dreamact.com, said “If Congress fails to act this year, another entire class of outstanding, law-abiding high school students will graduate without being able to plan for the future, and some will be removed from their homes to countries they barely know." - VVP/HS, GMA News
    • Tags: california, unitedstates, pinoysinus, josevargas
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