The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) passed a resolution in favor of the DREAM Act with near-unanimous support, following a long chain of nation-wide student activism around the issue. The legislation would allow illegal immigrant students a path to citizenship after graduating with a high school diploma and completing two years either in college or the U.S. military.
 
According to Senator Zoila Alvarez who had sponsored the resolution, the decision of the Senate to endorse the DREAM Act is not an umbrella immigration policy for all students who were attending the University without being legal U.S. citizens.

The Daily Lobo, student newspaper of UNM, reported the vote. ASUNM Vice President Michael Westervelt told the Lobo that “the turnout in favor of the resolution supporting the Act was the largest he’d seen in his three years in the undergraduate student government.”
 
Alvarez made sure that the resolution was contextualized and fully explained. “This is very specific for students and for minors, particularly when these people were brought over without having a choice,” Alvarez said.

The resolution continues a string of student activism in support of the DREAM Act. Most recently in the news, students at the University of California-Los Angeles rallied for two days in support of the bill in October. In November, the arrest of undocumented student Jesus Reyes in Miami inspired hundreds to sign a petition for his release, highlighting how widely the community supports the issue.


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