Undocumented Students

I am lucky. Came to the US on a plane, received a green card and a social security number right after my arrival and was able to get into an elite college with a great financial aid package. I can choose which job I want, I complain because I do not have enough money to go out but should be grateful I have a room in a college room and meal plan that takes care of my needs and I do not even have to pay for it. 

When I was in High School I became very involved with the Dream Act. I was giving presentations, getting signatures, keeping up with what was going on with the bill. I think it is time to pick that up again, if the girl in the radio show can work two shifts, be a chemistry major and pass her classes I think I should be ashamed I have not done more for it. In High School I had many undocumented friends, smart and hard working young people who are now in community colleges or state schools when they could have gone to Ivy League schools. They are very grateful they can go to school but it hurts me to think how much the United States could benefit if they were able to receive a better education and in most states any education at all. I am grateful for what I have been able to accomplish in this country but sometimes I feel like the political sphere gets stuck in this High School popularity contest so that they lose sight of the benefit of unpopular decisions. The interesting part is that they (and many anti-immigration groups) manipulate public opinion in such a way that they will be scared of immigrants and then act upon this fear as if was rooted in actual facts; creating the perfect environment for economic and political failure. It has happened in the past with the Italian, the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese (not only the concentration camps in California right after Pearl Harbor but also the country's sentiment during the 80's). I understand the desire to punish the one's that have broken immigration laws but all of these students were brought to the US by their parents, many of them do not know any other language than English or any other home than the United States. An adequate quote here is "A society is ultimately judged by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members", and you do not get more vulnerable than those who are not even considered part of a society despite their contributions to it. Although vulnerable, undocumented students are far from weak, they serve the community, they mobilize, they are the model Americans that are rejected by the country they have grown to love.