Cesar’s DREAM Story

The DREAM Act would give undocumented high school graduates who attend at least 2 years of college a pathway to citizenship, but over the last few years it has failed to pass in Arizona.  Why?  I find it absurd that AZ is choosing to send graduated and intelligent youth back to their native lands when they can do so much for this country.

As an undocumented high school graduate and future college graduate, I know I will help this country, my home. One thing I’ve noticed is that undocumented youth share this enthusiasm. Because of this, we bring energy to businesses. This energy drives business to sky rocket and never once have I met an undocumented youth lacking enthusiasm.

We “play” hard, but study harder! After college, when we have our new degrees, we are still unable to work.  Because of this, we are unable to bring new business to our state. It is a shame that we are not allowed to help.

We have a great work ethic.  Since we could not apply for financial aid and certain scholarships, we have worked jobs at a young age to get to where we are today. We know what it is to work hard.

Graduates also bring a high level of skills that are essential to compete in business. Ever-evolving information, engineering and scientific technology requires the latest skills, research and knowledge. Globalization of markets requires a high level of specialized skills, including planning, negotiation, communication and languages. That much we can definitely offer.

Arizona is not retaining the knowledge and skills that the graduates can contribute to the success of our economy as it should. With drop out rates increasing AZ, we cannot afford not passing the DREAM ACT.  Due to this neglect, Hispanic youth are more likely to drop out, thinking “why bother getting a higher education if it’s not going to help?” There is personal benefit for the DREAMer, but there is also a more widespread, public benefit.  Studies show that a drop out will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate and $800,000 less than a college graduate. Dropouts also make up nearly half the heads of households on welfare and nearly half the prison population. We all know who pays for that: the taxpayer. Students who drop out of school face a difficult future. They are more likely to be unemployed, incarcerated, and/or impoverished.

For students like me, disabled students, the odds are against us, but I did graduate. I do what a lot of undocumented youth do. We struggle and persevere because we do not fear success.

Students are also more likely to drop out if the family is damaged. For example, Joe Arpaio is breaking apart families through his “crime sweeps” when he deports and separates undocumented parents from their documented children.  After that, the family is damaged or completely broken. These children face unemployment, live in poverty, become incarcerated, earn half as much annual income as a high school graduate, have children at an early age, use drugs and, Mrs. Obama, they become overweight.

I find it ironic that a sheriff would allow crime to grow for the future by his present actions. Perhaps he’s making sure he will still have a job in the future.

When youth drop out of school, it isn’t always an intentional decision. Many say they simply stopped going to school one day and no one objected. Of course no one objected, Arpaio deported their parents! Trust me, their parents would object because if they tried to stay home from school; my undocumented mother would have dragged me to school.

We are good people, we want to live the American dream.  We are DREAMers among dreamers, so while I sit here thinking about my future and daydreaming, I hope it will one day become a reality.