Last Wednesday students around the country rallied to give their undocumented peers a path to higher education and citizenship. The rally was to promote passage of the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow states to charge illegal immigrants who graduate high school in the U.S. in-state tuition and would give those students legal status for six years. Students from Florida to New Mexico organized events, with participation from a wide variety of student and immigrant rights groups.

Students at the University of Florida recreated the hardships of an illegal immigrant student by holding two mock graduation ceremonies, with one student being hauled away by fake immigration agents.

UF President Bernie Machen joined the presidents of Harvard University and Stanford University in support of the bill. "It's a great cause, it's a great proposal," Machen said. "It's time for action."

Students at the University of Texas and the University of New Mexico gathered en masse in central plazas on campus.

Christopher Ramirez, spokesman for the Raza Graduate Students Association at UNM, explained one reason to support the act. “[Illegal immigrant students] have limited opportunities for their future in terms of higher education and getting a job because they cannot legally work in the United States,” said Ramirez. “What the DREAM Act would do is provide a pathway to permanent residency for students that want citizenship.”

UNM student Julie Merler-Smith said, “I like that the act is supporting kids that have grown up here and are law-abiding and want to make something of themselves."


More from the University of New Mexico Daily Lobo
More from the University of Texas Daily Texan
Even more from the Daily Texan
More from the University of Florida Independent Daily Alligator
More from Dream Activist
More from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement