Tucson (AZ), .- The “Keep alive the dream” campaign, launched this Tuesday in Arizona, will raise funds to ensure that young people who benefit from the Deferred Action Program (DACA) and enrolled in state universities can finish their higher education.
The campaign was announced by the Chicanos por la Causa (CPLC) organization, in conjunction with Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, the University of Northern Arizona, the Pima Community College, and the Maricopa Community Colleges.
“We ask for public support to be able to help the young people affected by this unfair policy and help them have the same opportunities,” David Adama, executive director of the CPLC, said in a press release.
It is estimated that around 1,600 students with DACA who are enrolled in these institutions will benefit from it.
After a long legal struggle, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in 2017 that students known as “dreamers” and covered by DACA are not eligible as residents to pay tuition at colleges and universities in the state.
Arizona argued that awarding these tuition to young people with DACA is a violation of state law 300, passed by voters in 2006, no matter how old they are living in the state and have graduated from local high schools.
The state considers that DACA is a “temporary” status that does not grant legal residence.
This decision obliges the “dreamers” to have to pay tuition fees of up to 200% higher than those of residents to complete their studies.
Young people with DACA are not eligible for federal aid, student loans and state scholarships, so they must pay for their studies themselves.
Since the measure came into force in August 2018, hundreds of students have already defected or gone to other states.
“I am grateful for this campaign that provides Arizonans with a way to make a compassionate and prudent decision to help our DACA beneficiaries complete the education they started,” said Robert C. Robbins, president of the agency. the University of Arizona.
For him, “the value of a university higher education lies in its ability to transform the life of a student by putting it in a course for lifelong learning.”
Chicanos por la Causa was founded half a century ago “to address inequalities in public education in Arizona.”
After that time, the organization says it is “proud to lead this unprecedented effort with the main educational institutions of Arizona.”
DACA was approved by former President Barack Obama (2009-2017) in 2012 to protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth who came to the country as children from deportation; but in September of 2017 Trump finished with this program when it still protected 690,000 people. (EFEUSA)
