PART TWO “A Dream of Youthful Hopes” Securing the American Dream for the Children of Immigrants

I rise today to introduce legislation that will help make the American dream a reality for many young people. [It] resolves immigration status problems that plague undocumented immigrants who came to our country as youths. It also removes barriers to education so that they are better equipped to succeed in our society. Each year, about fifty thousand young undocumented immigrants graduate from high school in the United States. Most of them came to this country with their parents as small children and have been raised here just like their U.S. citizen classmates. They view themselves as Americans, and are loyal to our country. Some may not even realize that they are here in violation of our immigration laws. They grow up to become honest and hardworking adolescents and young adults, and strive for academic as well as professional excellence…. Moreover, these young people have no independent way of becoming legal residents of the United States. In short, though these children have built their lives here, they have no possibility of achieving and living the American dream. What a tremendous loss to our society.6

The bill would have provided “conditional permanent resident status” to certain illegal individuals of good moral character who graduate from U.S. high schools, arrived in the United States as minors, and lived in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment. It also created an opportunity to qualify for permanent residency for those who "acquired a degree from an institution of higher education in the United States or [have] completed at least 2 years, in good standing, in a program for a bachelor's degree or higher degree in the United States" or have "served in the armed services for at least 2 years and, if discharged, [have] received an honorable discharge.”7

Several more versions of the DREAM Act have been introduced unsuccessfully during subsequent Congresses, but despite overwhelming evidence of the tremendous social and economic benefits of the DREAM Act, our federal lawmakers have failed to pass it, just as they have refused to pass much needed just, pragmatic and comprehensive immigration reforms. This abject failure of our federally elected officials flies in the face of the principles and practices that made this “promised land” the “lamp beside the golden door” opened to the world’s “tired … poor… huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It is ironic that Congress’ failure to pass the DREAM Act can largely be attributed to a lack of education about the truth of its benefits and limitations. In this decade long debate, the truth has been the greatest casualty.
Any student doing a marginal high school research paper could convincingly document the truth about laws securing educational opportunities to unauthorized immigrant children . In a January 2012 report on state DREAM act type legislation, the National Conference of State Legislators stated,

The bottom line is that our economic future depends on educating these young people. These young immigrants are key to our ability to counteract the serious demographic challenges we face. As baby boomers age, the number of retirees in the U.S. will swell. We are all aware that we can no longer compete with the rest of the world for low-wage jobs. We must raise the caliber of our workforce through higher education to have a chance to maintain a strong economy. Each person who attends college and obtains a professional job means one less drain on the social service (and possibly criminal justice) budgets of the state and an asset in terms of payment of taxes and the attraction to the state of high-wage employers seeking well-educated workers.8

One would think that Senator Hatch’s 2001 appeal to the American Dream would be sufficient motivation for Congress to act, but as stated, extreme partisan politics has replaced constructive compromise in Washington. During this time of economic downturn, federal and state government should embrace the positive economic benefits of giving undocumented students the opportunity to pursue their dreams of youthful hope. UCLA's North American Integration and Development Center analyzed a study by the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy of the income that would be earned by unauthorized immigrants who would be potentially eligible for the proposed DREAM Act benefits and concluded that those beneficiaries would earn from $1.4 trillion to $3.6 trillion over 40 years.9

The current DREAM Act of 2011, S 952/HR 1842 is not expected to go anywhere before the November election and will therefore have to be reintroduced in a future Congress. Interestingly, the Obama Administration announced a major policy change regarding the so-called “Dreamers” that has left many wondering what effect it will have on the 2012 election. But first it is instructive to review what factors led to this extraordinary executive action.

Punitive State Immigration Laws

In response to the federal government’s t failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including any laws addressing the issues of education and the aging population of undocumented children, city councils,  and state legislatures began to pass laws dealing with the reality of millions of unauthorized immigrants residing in our communities. Frustrated constituents and harried legislators were lobbied by a well-organized campaign of misinformation and fear mongering by right-wing extremists, nativists, zero-population advocates and even some white supremacist elements into passing more and more punitive measures dealing with undocumented aliens. In 2010, the Arizona legislature passed SB 1070, which was quickly signed by newly elevated Governor Jan Brewer. Strong favorable polling numbers made GOP law makers around the country sit up and take notice. Soon copycat bills were popping up all over the country – Utah included. Most of these new laws were centered on “show-me-your-papers” mandates on local law enforcement officers who were essentially made de-facto ICE agents. Other provisions were stated to be intended to make life so miserable, it would force the illegal population to self-deport. These laws were passed with little consideration of the negative economic, public safety and social impacts on local communities. Most of the bills did not  deal with children or education directly and won’t be discussed here, with one glaring exception.

In June of 2011, Alabama passed HB 56 which immediately became known as the “strictest illegal immigration law in the country” patterned after, but tougher than, Arizona’s SB 1070. One of its most controversial provisions required public school officials to act as ICE agents and question the legal status of every new student and, in some cases, that of their parents. Writing in June of 2012, Dr. William Lawrence, Principal of Foley Elementary in Foley Alabama, declared that thirty years after Plyler v Doe, Alabama’s children suffer as a result of HB 56. He wrote,

…When [HB 56] went into effect on September 29, the scene at my school was chaos. Many of our Latino children were arriving terrified. They worried their parents would be picked up and deported without ever getting a chance to say goodbye or make arrangements to see them again. That day, as my students came running off the buses in tears, it became clear to me that these children – almost all of whom American-born, U.S. citizens – were facing the brunt of the law. As parents came rushing to the school to withdraw their children, I was ashamed of what had been done…On May 1, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez sent a letter to Alabama’s education department detailing the damage done by the law. Since the law went into effect, it has led to the tripling of Hispanic student absentee rates, 13.4 percent of Hispanic children withdrawing from Alabama public schools and Hispanic parents in Alabama being unable to participate in their children’s education. I’ve seen all this firsthand. The children in Alabama are in pain. They should not be suffering as an “unintended consequence.” The U.S. Supreme Court promised that all children will have equal access to public education. It’s time our state legislature ensures that they do.10

Parts of the law, including the one requiring identification of public school children were put temporarily on hold by a federal court during appeal. In December of 2011, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange recommended that the legislature repeal certain provisions including the collection of immigration status of school kids. In May of 2012, the legislature passed a revised law, HB 658 which left in that notorious provision and was signed into law by Governor Bentley despite his veto threat and the fact he still had “concerns about the school provision.”

The Utah Compact – A Fresh Approach

After neighboring Arizona passed HB 1070 in early 2010, several conservative members of the veto-proof GOP majority in the Utah House and Senate announced that they would run an identical bill and redouble their efforts to repeal in-state tuition and the state “drivers-privilege” card issued to undocumented residents. Initial polls showed the majority of Utahns were buying into the hysteria and misinformation and supported a Utah version of the Arizona enforcement-only law. Mainstream Republicans, Democrats, immigrant and human rights advocates, law enforcement, business and religious leaders and even a powerful conservative think-tank, The Sutherland Institute, were alarmed and concerned by what appeared to be a head-long rush to join the anti-immigration lemmings scurrying over a cliff. We began to meet and quickly determined that opposition had to be more than a simple “Just Say No” to an Arizona style Enforcement-Only law. It was evident that reasonable alternatives had to be presented, and a concentrated effort undertaken to educate the public as to the truth about the impact of illegal immigration and the true negative impact and unintended consequences of enforcement-only punitive state laws.

A coalition of these diverse interest groups worked together to create a charter in the form of a concise statement of principles that would hopefully guide the legislature in debating and enacting any new laws related to immigration when the January 2011 session began. My Ninth-Great Grandfather arrived at Plymouth Plantation just ten years after the Mayflower Compact was signed off the coast of Massachusetts and so I was partial to calling our charter the Utah Compact. The Pilgrims, the ship’s crew and a few other non-religious immigrants had determined that before they set foot on this promising new land, they would agree to a simple statement of guiding principles and values of how they would run their community. So it was with the Utah Compact, a one-page “declaration of five principles to guide Utah’s immigration discussion.” Those principles were as follows:

1. “Federal Solutions,” which reiterated it was Congress’ responsibility to “strengthen federal laws and protect our national borders,” and urging state leaders “to adopt reasonable policies addressing immigrants in Utah.”

2. “Law Enforcement,” which emphasized respecting the rule of law and local “resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code.”

3. “Families,” which significant to this publication stated that we “oppose policies that unnecessarily separate families” and “champion policies that support families and improve the health, education and well-being of all Utah children.”

4. “Economy,” which urged a strong recognition that Utah is “best served by a free-market philosophy that maximizes individual freedom and opportunity,” and the “economic role immigrants play as workers and taxpayers.”

5. “A Free Society,” where immigrants are “integrated into communities across Utah,” and we “must adopt a humane approach to this reality, reflecting our unique culture, history and spirit of inclusion. The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors. Utah should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill.

In short, significant and consequential support of key law enforcement, business and religious organizations, public opinion began to change almost overnight; and with educational forums, debates and positive media coverage, by the time the legislature convened, the majority of the public supported the Utah Compact approach. Utahns said they opposed a strictly punitive enforcement only bill; and emphasized that Utah’s values on family, faith, children, opportunity, and safety were values that should guide moderate, comprehensive, sensible, pragmatic, just, fair and compassionate immigration reform. Brave Republican legislators and Governor Gary Herbert listened to the people and were not dissuaded by the shrill extremist voices. As a result they forged a watered down enforcement bill and crafted other pieces of legislation creating, for example, a Utah guest-worker permit program that would bring undocumented workers out of the dark, keep their families together, pay them fair wages and tax their income until the federal government acts. Another bill created a multidisciplinary Immigration Commission to study all future proposed legislation and make reasonable, fact-based recommendations to the policy makers. Furthermore, the threats by right wing anti-immigration activists and legislators to repeal in-state tuition and drivers privilege cards failed. Throughout 2011 the right-wing threatened to remove every Republican from office who voted for comprehensive reform and to repeal all of the moderate, comprehensive reform bills. Due to ongoing education and emphasis on the principles of the Utah Compact, no immigration bills were passed or repealed in the 2012 session and in the subsequent Utah GOP Convention and Primary, most of the extreme-right proponents of Arizona style punitive measures lost their campaigns for higher office. Those who voted for legislation consistent with the principles of the Compact survived their intra-party challenges and were re-nominated by the mainstream GOP voters.

I have been speaking around the nation about the Utah Compact to urge other states to follow our example. I have also hosted regional immigration reform symposia where I have referred to the significance of migrant workers to Utah and our Nation. When it was Utah’s turn to select what would go on its Utah quarter in the state series, the voters rejected the skiing and natural wonder motifs and settled on the historic driving of the Golden Spike in 1869 which every Utah school kid knows joined the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit. As part of the ceremony, a group of Chinese laborers who were largely responsible for building the Central Pacific line across the treacherous Sierra Nevadas, and a group of Irishmen, who were numbered among the migrant workers who built the Union Pacific rails across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. These non-citizens shed their sweat, blood and tears, and many gave their lives, building the system which would catapult the United States into world industrial and economic prominence. The Golden Spike was engraved “May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world.” The driving of the Golden Spike, signified that people from all walks of life, ethnicity, race and national origin came together to join this great nation in the advancement of commerce and good will. And so it should continue to this day.

Federal Administrative Reforms

One of my responsibilities as attorney general after 2011 was to negotiate with the Obama administration, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to try and get their approval of our Utah Guest Worker Permit Program. My discussions all focused on encouraging the federal government to exercise what we in the law call “prosecutorial discretion,” which means that criminal justice and civil enforcement decisions are necessarily made based on prioritizing limited resources. Simply stated, our jails and prisons are overcrowded and we therefore lack the wherewithal to investigate and prosecute every single violation of the laws. When an officer lets you off with a warning for speeding instead of a ticket, you have just been the beneficiary of prosecutorial discretion.

I reminded DOJ officials that they didn’t have the resources to prosecute every employer in the country who hired undocumented workers, and urged them to exercise their prosecutorial discretion and not prosecute Utah employers who hire undocumented workers and pay them living wages, withhold taxes, treat their employees justly and conduct criminal background checks to guarantee to the feds that the employees are otherwise law-abiding. This would free them up to focus just on abusive employers who are victimizing and exploiting their undocumented employees. I spent hours trying next to convince DHS, ICE and USCIS officials to exercise prosecutorial discretion or “deferment of action” as they call it, and not deport a group of Utah workers who come out of the darkness and from under the table, don’t steal Social Security Numbers or commit any other crimes, pay taxes and who we can show are not replacing U.S. citizen workers. This would free valuable resources to focus on real criminal aliens.

I was delighted when in 2011 the Obama Administration has announced that it would exercise prosecutorial discretion and only proceed with the deportations of the worst offenders, those with criminal records, etc. And in a wonderful declaration in recognition of the important principles behind the DREAM Act, Secretary Napolitano announced in 2012 that they would “defer action” on over1 million undocumented young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act by protecting them from deportation and providing them with work authorization.. In announcing the new policy, Secretary Napolitano said:

Our Nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a strong and sensible manner. They are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Indeed, many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways. Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.11

For his part, President Obama described those eligible as; “young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.” He emphasized that the new policy “is a temporary, stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to … patriotic young people…. “It's the right thing to do," he said, then added, “There is still time for Congress to pass the DREAM Act this year.”12 The Republican Presidential Nominee, Mitt Romney, later stated that, "If I'm president, we'll do our very best to have that kind of long-term solution that provides certainty and clarity for the people that come into this country through no fault of their own by virtue of the action of their parents."13

The president’s actions and Romney’s statements provide some hope to “DREAMers” that whatever outcome of the 2012 election, there will be renewed emphasis on providing educational opportunities and employment possibilities to an army of committed American children who want to give back to their country. One such group I’ve had the honor of working with isn’t waiting.

Latinos in Action

At the end of the 2012 school year I attended a conference at the University of Utah where thousands of Hispanic junior high and high school kids sat enthralled as Mexican American Shuttle Astronaut Jose Hernandez told them of his own journey from harvesting fruits and vegetables to living in the International Space Station and urged them to “pursue your dreams!” He told the kids that with effort, dedication and education, they too could “reach the stars.” The Latin American Herald Tribune recently reported that Hernandez said that it was “in the dusty beet fields near Stockton, with a hoe in his hands, that he discovered his ‘fascination with the stars’ and started to dream of being an astronaut. ‘I remember when I was 5 or 6 and I went with my parents to the field at dawn. Everything was black, but we were far from the pollution of the city and I could see the stars very clearly,” he said. Curiosity about space was forever sown in him at age 9, when he watched on a black and white television the last manned mission to the moon. ‘When I saw the astronauts walking on the moon, right there I told myself, ‘That’s what I want to be,’ and that’s how my dream was born.’”14

As a member of the Board of Trustees of Latinos in Action, I get chills every time I hear the personal stories of young Latinos who discover that because they are bi-lingual and bi-cultural, they have a unique gift to share and can have a tremendous impact on others and add value to their communities. When the new school year starts, Latinos in Action will be in more than eighty schools in Utah and surrounding states. The program involves classroom study, volunteer service and cultural arts development. Once a week, a dozen or so Granger High School students translate and record books for elementary school kids to listen to, and they also visit Monroe Elementary School where they provide, one-on-one tutoring for children struggling with their new language and location. They help with Math and English translation and pronunciation.

Latinos in Action was founded by educator Jose Enriquez, a native of El Salvador, who was recently awarded his Ph.D. He believes, and has proven, that social experiences are important to the success of minority students. In a May 2011 article in the Provo Daily Herald, correspondent Hilary Hendricks interviewed several LIA students. In quoting Moises Mardones, she said that he didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived in the United States several years ago, "Luckily I had friends who helped me with my school work," the Springville High School sophomore said. Now fluent in both English and Spanish, Mardones is doing well in school and plans to study dentistry or physical therapy one day.” Moises and seven others LIA students at Springville will receive a total of $96,000 in scholarship funds when they graduate. She quoted Dr. Enriquez:

"So many Latino students are lost in the transition from junior high to high school or from high school to college," he said. "If we can have students mentoring each other at those transitional points, we can retain those Latino students, and they will go on to college. Through serving others, they are giving back to the community and helping themselves as well. When younger students see them as positive, professional role models, they are breaking down barriers to Latino success."15

The results are breathtaking. Since Dr. Enriquez began the program in his high school in 2001, every active member of LIA has earned a high school diploma – especially when compared to the fact that twenty-six percent of Latino youth in Utah drop out. The vast majority of LIA graduates go on to attend college – which is the number one goal of the program.

The success stories span the state of Utah and spread across the Rocky Mountain States. KSL anchor Nadine Wimmer went on to report about Latinos in Action in the rural Central Utah town of Delta:

Delta’s simple partnership has had a dramatic impact on a tough education problem in Delta, and the benefit extends far beyond the schools. The community used to face a struggle familiar to other schools: Hispanic reading scores lagged by half of their Caucasian peers; 10 percent of seniors graduated and none of them went on to college. Teachers got together to try to figure out what they could do to close the gap, Delta Elementary School Principal David Noah explained. They came up with a simple approach: have high school students read with elementary school students.16

Anyone who speaks out against in-state tuition or the DREAM Act or who refer ignorantly to children born in this country as “anchor-babies,” would be well served to attend and observe a Latinos in Action class or service project. In one such classroom at Hillcrest High School in Midvale Utah, I was impressed at the English proficiency of all of the forty students, as well as their excitement about education and their love of America. I asked them what the “action” part of the program meant to them. The response was quick, enthusiastic and genuine and could be summed up in one word: “Service.” The kids reiterated that they loved America and they wanted to give back. Many of them said in their perfect English that this is the only country they know and they want to gain an education and use it to benefit others. They want to dream the same as all young people do, and in this blessed nation have the ability to achieve those dreams.

Conclusion – The Promised Land

Education continues to be the vehicle by which immigrants and natives alike have dared to dream youthful hopes and reach the stars. At the turn of the Twentieth Century, a young girl passed beneath the New Colossus and entered New York Harbor. Her family had dreamed of coming to America where education was free. Mary Antin later wrote the story of her experience and titled it, The Promised Land. In this beautiful excerpt, she poignantly expressed what millions of people in this country still dream of and hope and pray and work for.

Father himself conducted us to school. He would not have delegated that mission to the President of the United States. He had awaited the day with impatience equal to mine, and the visions he saw as he hurried us over the sun-flecked pavements transcended all my dreams… If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be worshipped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw one step nearer to them. He could send his children to school, to learn all those things that he knew by fame to be desirable… he knew no surer way to their advancement and happiness.
So it was with a heart full of longing and hope that my father led us to school on that first day. He took long strides in his eagerness, the rest of us running and hopping to keep up… At last the four of us stood around the teacher's desk; and my father, in his impossible English, gave us over in her charge, with some broken word of his hopes for us that his swelling heart could no longer contain. I venture to say that Miss Nixon was struck by something uncommon in the group we made, something outside of Semitic features and the abashed manner of the alien… This foreigner, who brought his children to school as if it were an act of consecration, who regarded the teacher of the primer class with reverence, who spoke of visions, like a man inspired, in a common schoolroom, was not like other aliens, who brought their children in dull obedience to the law; was not like the native fathers, who brought their unmanageable boys, glad to be relieved of their care. I think Miss Nixon guessed what my father's best English could not convey. I think she divined that by the simple act of delivering our school certificates to her he took possession of America.17