Sunday's Boston Globe features an article highlighting the impact of the economy on remittances. Despite the sharp economic downturn, global remittances are only expected to decline by 5-8% as migrants dip into their savings to keep their relatives above water oversees. This quote sums it up:"It's not an option not to send money," said Fatou Diop, a Senegalese immigrant who works as a community liaison at African Services Committee, a non-profit group in Harlem, New York. "When it's hard here, it's horrible in Africa."Saturday's New York Times had a terrific Op-Ed on the importance of passing the DREAM Act, federal legislation that would give high-achieving undocumented students a pathway to higher education and citizenship. The story of Benita Veliz highlights to barriers undocumented youth face in accessing higher education and, with it, opportunities for professional and personal growth. How a nation can turn down the potential of an entire group of people and relegate them to low-wage jobs is beyond understanding. As the baby boomer generation continues to retire in large numbers, will the U.S. realize too late the wealth of potential that currently resides in the shadows?
...Ms. Veliz is a poster child for the Dream Act, but hardly the only one. For every Benita Veliz, she said, there many others who dropped out because they saw no point in getting a college degree. They are working in low-wage jobs, off the books, their bright futures prematurely dead-ended.It's time to pass the DREAM Act. Now.Ms. Veliz’s voice cracks when talking about her case, but she gets excited when asked about her dreams. The words just tumble out:
“I would like to go to law school and be an attorney for a few years, and then after that get into politics on a Congressional level, either senator or representative. I’ve actually always wanted to do international relations, get a master’s in international relations, with a law degree. I would want to do international law, or immigration law, but not really just that, but that’s just one small sort of thing in the long spectrum of things.”
