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By Kevin Xavier Garcia-Galindo 24 (He/Him), Political Correspondent

On February 18th, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey (D) and Representative Linda T. Snchez of California (D) unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, an immigration reform bill modeled after the proposal made by President Biden.

In the words of the original White House press release concerning the bill which this current one was modeled on, The bill provides hardworking people who enrich our communities every day and who have lived here for years, in some cases for decades, an opportunity to earn citizenship.

The bill, if passed, would create an eight year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who resided in this country as of January 1st, as well as an accelerated route for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to apply for green cards right away, giving them noncitizenship status with the ability to become full citizens in the future.

The DACA program, created in 2012, protects unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from possible deportation. The program endured various attacks by the Trump administration, including a termination of the program which put the almost 700,000 DACA recipients in possible danger of deportation. However, the Supreme Court overruled that decision due to the arbitrary and capricious manner in which the Trump administration levied the order.

This bill, if passed, has the capability to increase many undocumented and DACA students chances of obtaining a post-secondary level education. Of the estimated 450,000 undocumented students currently attending college or university in the U.S., only about half of them are eligible for DACA. About nine in ten of those DACA recipients came to this country before the age of 12 (89%), as compared to about half (47%) of undocumened students not eligible for DACA. Altogether, all undocumented students represent about 2% of total college enrollment in the U.S., including here in North Carolina where DACA and undocumented students each make up an equal 1% of the student population, a rate only higher in California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington.

DACA students will for the first time be able to become eligible noncitizens with an expedited path towards citizenship once they receive their green card. This will make them eligible, along with other criteria, for financial aid, as well as subsidized federal loans. Under North Carolina regulations, even DACA recipients are not eligible for instate tuition, although they are entitled to a NC drivers license, as well as state identification cards. Although many DACA and undocumented scholarships and grants exist in North Carolina, undocumented students applying to NC colleges such as Davidson College have to self-identify themselves as international students and thus largely depend on merit scholarships, high-interest loans, or working in or out of college in order to pay for their education.

These conditions have, for a long period of time, depressed the levels of undocumented students who obtain a post-secondary diploma. An estimated 100,000 undocumented students graduate every year from U.S. high schools, but due to the plethora of disadvantages they face including the always looming danger of deportationfew are able to attended college, and many leave prematurely or take constant breaks before getting their degree. Only about 5% to 10% of all undocumented students even pursue a college education to begin with. Programs like DACA have already showed the immense influence that they can have on educational outcomes of undocumented youth, like raising high school graduation rates by 15%, increasing school attendance of high-school-aged students by 3%, and increasing college enrollment among Hispanic women by 22%.

Dr. Bazo Vienrich, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Worcester University and previously a Visiting Professor at Davidson during the 2019-2020 academic year, researches how institutions and policies have impacted undocumented Latinx youths experiences with belonging and exclusion. While she thinks that this bill will ultimately help undocumented and DACA students, she worries about the possibility of education gaps for these students, like those who due to their immigration status have not considered college as an option and have not been tracked to go to college as high school students. Or those whose parents and other family members may remain undocumented or in liminal legal immigration statuses, which could lead some students to try to get as high of a paying job as possible after high school to financially help out at home instead of going to college.

Out of all 50 states, currently only 21 have a provision that offers undocumented students in-state tuition and sometimes financial aid. As she highlights, its important to still consider that while it will have a major positive impact on the lives of undocumented immigrants, the bill will not do away with the years of state-enforced legal violence and limited opportunities this group has experienced.

The bill also provides a considerable amount of help to international students in STEM Ph.D. programs to stay in the U.S. Just last year, the number of international students in the U.S. dropped for the first time in a decade according to a report by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Department of State. Despite this, however, international students continue to make up around 5.5% of all students in higher education. This provision would help eliminate many of the obstacles that U.S. tech companies have had to face when it comes to hiring high-skilled international workers which have pushed many of them to open firms in other countries like Canada, where hiring immigrant workers is easier.

Although many higher education advocates would prefer this bill to be far more inclusive of the the greater international student population as only about 12% of international students are enrolled in doctoral programs, this provision alone could open the door for a greater magnitude of highly skilled international students, who already make up more than half of all doctoral degree holders in STEM.

While this bill has the potential to reverse many of the injustices of past administrations concerning immigration, the bill still has a long way to go until it can be passed in both the Senate and the House. It was not that long ago in 2013 that a similar but much less broader bill was able to pass the Democratic-led Senate but failed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Even with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, getting this bill passed with the 60 votes necessary to overcome a likely filibuster will be an ordeal unless Democrats manage to convince more Republicans or are able to pass other smaller reform on immigration. As it currently stands, important republican Senators who have co-sponsored or voted for similar proposals in the past do not seem entirely convinced that right now is the best time to pass immigration reform due to the ongoing crisis at the border.As Senator Lindsey Graham (R) said in an interview with CNN, Were not going to do a comprehensive immigration bill[] I just dont see the politics of it. Its too out of control. Only time will tell if Biden is able to assuage the fears of the few precious congressmen he needs to pass the most ambitious immigration reform bill since Ronald Reagon.

Original post:
How Biden's Immigration Reform will affect Undocumented, DACA, and International Students - The Davidsonian