Mata 1
!
Marco Mata
Sociology 001
Professor Rodriguez
5 August 2015

Growing up in a neighborhood like mine, south central, I was well aware that there was many immigrants roaming in the city but it wasn't until high school where I was astonished that many of my classmates were undocumented. My reactions were surreal because in my mind I use to think that if you went to school you had to be in “legal status” to attend, you can say I was pretty ignorant towards that situation back then. Although through my classmates I began to educate myself and thought my findings I remember they talked about the Dream Act. They were so stoked because I believe it had just passed before we were going to graduate back in 2012.
The Dream Act stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, its purpose is to aid undocumented immigrant students have an opportunity to enlist in the military or go to college and have a path to citizenship. Having passed this act it also helps the United States as a whole because its a chance to contribute back to the country that has given so much to them.
The Dream Act may help out a lot of undocumented students but not every undocumented student can qualify to obtain it. Certain regulations and requirements have to be met in order to get his/her process started. I say this because the student must have been here since they were sixteen years of age or younger and had to be in the united states before the act passed for five consecutive years. First a student must be undocumented like I said before then they must meet the AB 540 qualifications. You must have had attended high school for a

Mata 2
!
minimum of three years or have achieved credits equivalent to or three more years of high school coursework. Also in addition to that have at least another three or more years at a California elementary or secondary school. I write California because those are the qualifications here, and in other states that also have the Dream Act the requirements might or might not be different.
You must have graduated from a CA high school and obtained a diploma and passed the
California High School Proficiency Exam or the student must have had obtained a GED
Diploma. Lastly, have had qualified for their choice of being enlisted in the army or qualified for a college or university. The final best part for the student in reaching their dream is to write an affidavit as soon as possible to make their immigration status legal. Through out the process there is also grants and scholarships a student can sign up for to help them for their road of college because fafsa can’t help undocumented students.
I support the Dream Act all the way and it’s not presumably because I’m latino, one thing
I hate that people that oppose to the act just automatically assume. The Dream Act helps these students get their legal status and social economic status like the rest of the world. Instead of working paycheck by paycheck and struggling to get a job because they are undocumented, they would get a chance to succeed in life. It baffles me that some of these people that oppose to the act say they don't support it because illegals are taking their jobs. Im sorry but if someone that wasn't born here and has some kind of burdens can take these jobs they claim then clearly it isn't an illegal problem, it’s a problem on their end that they cant meet. These kids that have been settled here since they were young have dreams, goals, and hopes just like any other kid in
America or like myself. Many of these kids sometimes don’t even know that they’re illegal until they are encountered with a troubled situation. They don’t live their lives “normal” I would say

Mata 3
!
because they are in constant fear of getting deported and constant hiding from these higher authorities. If they are deported these students would go back to a foreign country, although they are from there everything would be new to them because the United States is what they called home. Many of them don’t even have family members because they all came to the United States and wouldn't know where to go or what to do. Knowing that they are undocumented makes them work harder and achieve what they want because they know the struggle and what comes with it.
Punishing these kids by deporting them because something their parents did is inhumane and unfair, they were so little to even know what was going on. Don’t get me wrong some their parents should get the legal status just as well because they work just as hard for them it’s just a whole another situation.
Not only is there a Dream Act to help undocumented students but there is also DACA that helps out children that have been in the United States since they were small. Well DACA, what is that you might say? DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, it gives these people who have been here since early childhood a request to be legal in the United States for a period of only two years, but can renew it again after if they still meet the certain requirements.
The main difference is the Dream Act would have given the community a path to residency and eventually citizenship. DACA is just work permit and protection from deportation. It allows these people to be able to work and afford school but it’s not a path to any type of legal status.
Although for those two years that they get granted their legal status to be in the United States they can’t be deported until their two year term has been terminated or unless they get encountered with law before the two years it can also be taken away and probably be excluded from ever being able to apply for it again.

Mata 4
!
Just like the Dream Act there is also some requirements in applying for the DACA. First this person or child had to have come to the United States before they were sixteen years old so had to be sixteen or younger. They also have had to be living in the United States since June fiveteen of 2007 to present day of today. In addition this individual has had to be under the age of thirty-one before June five-teen of 2012. They also have to have be currently enrolled in school and graduated from high school and received their diploma or if not have obtained their General
Ed diploma. They can't have any sort of misdemeanor or convicted with a felony, pretty much be in good moral conduct with the law. Then from there you just file your paperwork and make sure its two forms which are I-821D and I-765 & I-765WS and forget to pay your fees a total of
$465. After that you just keep checking your status online until they verify you that you have been accepted. Those who already have DACA, the renewal is quite simple. You just find your
DACA expiration date and re-apply four months prior to the date. Make sure you still meet the requirements having had applied the first time, and have not left the United States with out advance parole. Also have been living in the states since you submitted your recent DACA request that have been approved. Lastly have not been convicted of a felony or had a misdemeanor during your two year period and re submit the two forms with your $465 fees attached. As for DACA I support it as well but not completely. It’s amazing how it grants them so much, they get to have an employment authorization and get social security so they won’t always have to be struggling. An actual ID card so when driving they can focus and not always be in constant fear they are going to get pulled over and be reported. They get to live the American life and be able to go to school and bring their economic status up. Although all this only last two

Mata 5
!
years, what happens after they can’t re-apply. They go back to constant hiding and being in fear because to me it’s like you’re turning yourself in over to the government after just have got fucked by them. You gave them all your information and now they pretty much own you and go look for you and deport you because your legal status of two years has been terminated. Some these people with all their hard work and who truly want to be do not deserve that and have gone through so much to just waste their time it’s truly a shame. Not only that but the fees that they have keep paying every two years, these people do have jobs but they already have other things pending they have to pay. I think the first time fee they should pay it but if their information is the same and everything else too then they shouldn’t have to pay overtime. As well as for the next president he or she can just come in their presidency and simply wipe all this away and leave all these people in the computers to be registered to be looked out and I’m not saying they will but look at one of the candidates Donald Trump and his racist slurs toward latinos. He surely wont feel no ill intention and just take this all this way and deport every single one of them. It would be a sad situation if that ever happened but in regards to everything it is a good action because it helps the people out and at least gives them a chance to do good for this country and give back.