The American Dream Means Something Different to Everyone
Pushing people from across the globe to revel in and seek out the opportunities our nation has to offer.
by Aalyhia Shillow
I’m a product of that fight for a piece of the American Dream: the granddaughter of post-World War II Indonesian immigrants. Without their courage and tenacity, neither my father nor I would have been able to take advantage of the opportunities that the United States is uniquely positioned to afford its citizens. To this day, my father still works as a special education teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District — seeing firsthand the potential of immigrant populations and their desire to advance and contribute to their new home country. For that reason, I’m joining the chorus of advocates supporting more flexibility and opportunities for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in post-secondary education.
Since the start of the Biden presidency, there has been much debate surrounding the issues along the southern border regarding immigration and their status within America. With the implementation of the Obama Administration’s DACA policy in 2012, those who came at an early age had the chance to flourish in the sea of opportunity that the US presented. Now this policy has the chance to make a comeback through legislation such as the Dream Act — a bipartisan legislation proposed by Senators Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Their cooperation and focus on creating pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients highlight a little-discussed but obvious truth: DACA recipients are a critical part of addressing the short and long-term workforce shortages across the United States.
Higher education and post-secondary opportunities should be at the forefront of any discussion around new DACA legislation as we navigate the 118th Congress. Of the 19,646,000 higher education students within the United States, 427,345 are undocumented — with 182,000 of those students (nearly 43%) being DACA recipients. Supporting these students means providing them the same higher education and post-secondary options as any other citizen — access to federal student aid programs, public benefits, and state or nationally licensed employment, as they seek to contribute to the local and national economies like Monse, Honey, and Rosa, did.
While relatively similar to the initial regulations introduced by the Obama Administration, the new Dream Act presents a few new requirements and opportunities, like removing obstacles to granting conditional permanent residency. If enacted, studies show that Dreamers would contribute $687 billion to the U.S. economy and pay $230 billion in combined taxes over the next decade if they could become citizens. Beyond the scope of education, these immigrants help society function the way it does in manners that may be less visible to the typical citizen. Giving DACA recipients — and all Dreamers — a chance to access valuable higher education resources and pathways provides them an opportunity to contribute to local economies and help address the national workforce and innovation shortages the US faces today.
So many Americans enjoy the privileges of being a citizen of this nation, yet, in actuality, there are plenty of non-citizens contributing to our society — desperately seeking out their slice of the American Dream. They come to this country like my grandparents did, looking for a new life and a chance to escape the poverty of their home countries. They come looking to contribute to the American workforce and economy rather than take away from the citizens already here. They come here with the dream of going to college, getting their degrees, and finding viable career opportunities that allow them to accomplish all the dreams they had in coming to America in the first place. Giving them a chance to pursue their dreams and education is necessary for the betterment of society and the progression of immigrants nationwide.
Aalyhia Shillow is a former TSC Student Ambassador Fellow and a University of North Texas graduate.
