Austin Community College, together with St. Edward’s University, spotlights hot-button immigration issues during the fourth annual “Immigration, Education, and Our Future” conference, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 4, at ACC’s Highland Business Center (5930 Middle Fiskville Road).
This year’s conference is titled “The Dream and Its Cost.” It examines multiple views on immigration across America’s southern border and DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act legislation. The DREAM Act would have given provisional legal status to undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, as long as they enrolled in college or joined the military. The U.S. Senate rejected the act in December.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo will speak about proposals under consideration by state lawmakers regarding local enforcement of immigration laws. Other presenters will offer perspectives on how current policies compare with different periods in U.S. history. Legal and history experts taking part in the conference include Linda Cristofilis, former chief of staff for Texas Rep. Rick Noriega, immigration attorney Thomas Esparza, Dr. Manuel Garcia y Griego of the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute at the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque, and Dr. Mariano Diaz-Miranda of the Latino/Latin American Studies Center at ACC. The event will feature a panel of college students who would have been affected by the DREAM Act.
Dr. Richard Armenta, associate vice president of student success at ACC and organizer of the conference, notes immigration issues have not changed much over the conference’s four years. “Congress has not dealt with undocumented immigrants, so colleges and universities, in particular, remain in limbo,” he says.
The conference is open to the public. Registration is $40 per person ($10Â for students)Â and includes lunch. For details, see www.austincc.edu/immigrat.
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By Laura March 1, 2011 - 9:05 am
I wish this event could have been schedule on a different date, two months ago I signed up for the Adult Education Career Resource Fair at Eastview.
By Ned March 2, 2011 - 5:53 pm
With the financial problems facing the educational systems both here in Austin and many other places, we need to consider the impact that undocumented people have on the educational system and the added cost. The first priority needs to be to our legal citizens and their children. Other nations do not allow undocumented people to access social and educational systems, why do we need to bare this additional cost and ignore the Federal laws in regards to immigration, especially in today’s economic situation.
By Jane March 4, 2011 - 3:58 pm
It is extremely short-sighted to seek to bar illegals from the educational system. Uneducated, they create a peon class which is little different from slavery. Educated, they contribute, and the portion who will qualify under the DREAM Act will be a critical help to this society. I have had a brilliant student whose parents crossed over when she was four years old. She wants to be a bilingual doctor. We need bilingual doctors. We don’t need another waitress running scared.
By Pat March 4, 2011 - 7:36 pm
This is very sad…I’ve tried to get funds to go to school but my husband makes too much and we do not qualify. I am a citizen. How can we allow this to take place and not take care of our own first before we consider people that are here taking what is not for them to take legally. How can you as ACC and the administrators be in support of breaking the law?
By Larissa March 5, 2011 - 4:51 pm
ive been in the united states since i was 2 i grew up as an american but now that i want to follow my dreams and go to college to better myself and i can’t. all i want is to go to college so my children can have a better future here in the united states than in mexico.
By MAC March 7, 2011 - 2:10 pm
I attended the convention and I am so glad that I did. I felt that the speakers were a great accessory for me to understand key point to why people migrate. As well as give those immigrants an opportunity to grow in America.
I also learned that an immigrant could be anyone of any race, religion…, not just the latino or hispanic that we might come in contact with.