In lawmaking, there is no more surefire way to get your bill noticed than to put a kid’s name on it.
Want to stop sex abusers? .
Help children in the autism spectrum? .
But how about when elected officials want to take something from kids?
That’s what some of them plan to do Wednesday to 19-year-old Areli Munoz-Reyes.
You won’t hear the sponsors of refer to it as Areli’s Law.
But they should.
The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled Missouri Legislature in May by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. It does one very simple, and equally cruel, thing: It takes away the A+ tuition assistance that Areli earned fair and square before she graduated from University City High School. It does so because Republicans of Donald Trump vintage believe that electoral success is earned on the backs of “illegal immigrants.â€
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Here’s the problem:
Areli isn’t an illegal anything. She’s a hard-working, tax-paying student trying to do her parents and her adopted country proud.
“I’ve been here since I was 8,†Areli says. “I was raised here. I consider this country my country. My parents brought me here when I was little. I didn’t have any say in it.â€
Like an estimated 1.2 million other young people like her, Areli is in the country legally under the , or DACA, program created by President Barack Obama’s executive order in 2012. Children brought to the U.S. by undocumented immigrant parents can apply for the special status so they can continue to go to school and work while this country’s divided political system haggles over yet another presidential election how we are going to fix (or not fix) our broken immigration system.
Areli’s parents brought her to ºüÀêÊÓƵ from Tlaxcala, Mexico, an area southeast of Mexico City. Her father came first, found work, and, as happens with many immigrant families, sent for his wife and two children. Areli has a younger brother. She also has a little sister, who was born in the U.S., and is, therefore, a citizen.
This is the complexity of the immigration tapestry in the U.S. In one family, there are as many legal threads as there are people. Areli’s father is seeking asylum. Her mother is undocumented. Her sister is a citizen.
Like many of the DREAMers who qualify for legal status under the DACA program, Areli didn’t even know she was different than her friends in University City schools until high school, when it came time to get a drivers license, and she couldn’t get one. That’s when her parents gave her the “talk.â€
Her undocumented status didn’t stop Areli from focusing on her goals. She wants to be the first person in her family to go to college. She wants to be a nurse.
So in high school, she sought to qualify for the state’s . Available in more than 500 of the state’s high schools, it provides up to two years of community college tuition (after federal aid is subtracted) for students who do three things: graduate with a 2.5 or better grade-point average; achieve a 95 percent attendance rate; and perform 50 hours of community service.
Areli did all this and more. She graduated with a 3.0 grade-point average. She tutored elementary school children and read to them at the library.
Then came the roadblocks.
She applied to the University of Missouri-ºüÀêÊÓƵ, but found out a separate law passed by the Missouri Legislature would make her ineligible for in-state tuition at state universities. Changing course, she enrolled at ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College-Forest Park, but after two visits she was told the school wouldn’t accept her A+ scholarship.
That’s when she turned to the folks at the , a nonprofit that helps connect students in need to financial aid. There, immigrant student adviser Felipe Martinez is working with about 25 or so DACA students trying to navigate the complicated financial aid process being made more difficult by state lawmakers.
With help from the foundation, Areli got enrolled and the college accepted the tuition aid she had already earned through her own achievement and hard work in high school.
On Wednesday, she will find out if state lawmakers think it’s better to encourage young immigrants to turn away from higher education and put their dreams on hold. Republican lawmakers plan to try to override Mr. Nixon’s veto.
“I’m really worried,†she says. “But somebody has to speak up. They need to know how real people are affected. I feel like what they are trying to do to me is take away my hope. I think I’ve done all the right things.â€
Here’s what every Missouri lawmaker should have to do before voting to deny college tuition assistance to Areli and others like her who have earned it.
Say her name.
Areli Munoz-Reyes qualified for her college aid the same way your children did.
Say her name before you take away that which she already earned.