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BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published February 11, 2010

Jusselia Molina ’13 came to Swarthmore because of its reputation as an ethically conscious institution and hoped to learn how to help others. Now in her second semester at the college, Molina, along with Jovanna Hernandez ’13 and Evelyn Fraga ’13, has already started her work in social justice.

The three students formed the DREAM Act Coalition, a group that plans to lobby for the passage of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.

“We’re really hoping that we get support on campus,” Molina said. “We’re not asking they believe in everything, just keep an open mind.”

Currently, it is difficult for many undocumented students to afford a college education because they have to pay out-of-state tuition and are not eligible for student loans.

The act would give legal status to the children of illegal immigrants while they are in college or in the military and would allow them to take out student loans, though not federal grants, if they meet a certain set of criteria.

“This is not an issue of immigration; it’s an issue of education,” Molina said. “Education is a human right, and children who have grown up here and know America as their country shouldn’t be punished because they didn’t have a choice in how they came here.”

The bill requires that its beneficiaries have been in the United States for at least five years prior to the enactment of the bill, that they were under 16 when they entered the country and that they have never been deported.

These criteria are intended to prevent a flood of new illegal immigrants from entering the country to exploit the act.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin introduced the bill in 2007 and again in 2009, but it failed to pass both times.

The group’s ultimate goal is for President Rebecca Chopp to come out in support of the act. They would like her to write a letter to Congress as well as to Pennsylvania senators. This would add Swarthmore to the list of colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Tufts and Notre Dame, who have publicly endorsed the bill.

The coalition also wants student involvement, both at the Tri-Co level and individually.
“We would like for students to write to their senators. We have students at Swat from all 50 states, so we’d like to reach all the senators,” Hernandez said.

The group hopes to become a true coalition by uniting with other organizations such as the Intercultural Center, the Black Cultural Center, Students for a Democratic Society and College Democrats.

“We think it’s really important that the college students can unite to show Congress it’s important to us,” Hernandez said.

Members of the DREAM Act Coalition have not yet approached any of these organizations.

At the group’s first meeting on Tuesday, members discussed other plans, including possibly having a table at Ride the Tide, bringing in lecturers, having a rally and screening movies.

They have many ideas but few concrete plans.

“We’re seeking advice from upperclass-people and faculty about how activism works at Swat,” Molina said.

The group’s mentor is Rafael Zapata, assistant dean and director of the Intercultural Center. Zapata, who is also Fraga’s academic advisor, met Molina at the Tri-Co Summer Institute and was introduced to Hernandez by Molina and Fraga.

“I’m playing more of an advisory role for them,” Zapata said. “They’re bringing an incredible amount of energy and power to this issue. I’m just trying to support them. I’m working to help them achieve their goals.”

Zapata is also reaching out to his contacts in New York and Washington, D.C.
“I’m trying to identify people who have some expertise about this law and the process that’s impeding this progress. As we see with healthcare, it’s really tough to get some controversial things pass,” he said.

The students are interested in this issue in part because of their personal connections to people who would be aided by the passage of the bill.

“We all know someone who’s suffering,” Hernandez said.

Fraga agreed.

“There are so many students who are immigrants that are so much brighter and smarter and got better grades than I did, and they don’t know how they can go to school,” she said.

Molina pointed out that one doesn’t need to know someone who has been affected by immigrant status to be affected by it because it is simply a matter of social justice.

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