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Undocumented Students Speak in Support of DREAM Act

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Mayra Cruz, Houston Chronicle)
Wendy Ramirez said she was first inspired to pursue a medical degree when her father was paralyzed after a drunken driver hit him when she was a child. But before graduating from high school, she was initially discouraged by a counselor for a reason most students don’t deal with, but eventually gained admission to the University of Houston-Downtown as a biology major.

Ramirez came out to dozens of people on Thursday by announcing she was no longer afraid of her past, the fact that was keeping her back: She is an illegal immigrant.

Attendees at the rally greeted her disclosure with cheers. She said she did not want “to be judged by a document, but by the qualities I possess.”

The organization Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle gathered community members and supporters to listen to students like Ramirez “coming out” about their immigration status. The rally was staged Thursday in support of the Development, Relief, Education for Alien Minors Act – better known as the DREAM Act – at the UH-Downtown campus.

The DREAM Act has been under consideration by Congress since 2001. If passed, it would allow some young illegal immigrants to gain citizenship after attending two years of college or enlisting in the military after also passing a criminal background check. While the DREAM Act gained bipartisan support in Congress over the years, its passage has stalled in both the House and Senate.
(Read more of this story at the Houston Chronicle)

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