Dreaming Big: The Story of Nelson Lopez
By Neal Modi | January 27, 2012 | One Comment
Nelson Lopez is a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia. A bright, personable young man, Nelson volunteers his time as a tutor with the Southwood Community Outreach Center and is an assistant in the Immigration Clinic at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville . But without intervention by the ACLU, he may have never been able to attend U.Va.
A citizen by birth, Nelson applied to U.Va. in the winter of 2008 only to receive notification from the University that spring asking him that he would have to prove his parent’s legal residency in order to be considered an in-state student. After much bad publicity and widespread, constant coverage by the Washington Post, the University re-classified Lopez as an in-state student, thereby increasing his chances of admission and the prospect of paying a lower in-state tuition.
Nevertheless, Lopez’s case was an exception to the rule. The University of Virginia and a handful of other public universities across the state have not changed their policy towards children of illegal immigrants. Such students are still deprived of in-state status – a status that will incentivize them to attend university in the first place and remain in Virginia after they graduate.
Fortunately, though, there are efforts underway in Virginia to remove the minefield that Lopez and thousands of others experience every year.
In 2010, the bipartisan DREAM Act failed to pass Congress. The bill, which would have charted a path to citizenship for American-born children of undocumented immigrants upon completing college or military service, appeared to be a sensible policy to ensure a healthy future for some of the brightest and most promising minds of our nation.
Nonetheless, while the DREAM Act failed at the federal level, Del. Alfonso Lopez of Arlington is proposing a Virginia version of the bill. While the bill can’t guarantee U.S. citizenship, it grants undocumented workers and their children the opportunity to affordably attend Virginia’s public colleges and universities as Virginians.
Lopez’s bill, HB779, would allow qualified potential students to pay in-state tuition at Virginia’s public colleges, as opposed to out-of-state tuition, as they must currently do. To qualify, a student would need to graduate from a state high school, establish residency for three years since graduating, demonstrate an intent to remain and seek permanent U.S. residency, and show Virginia income tax returns (or a parent’s returns if a dependent).
While more modest than its federal counterpart, this new policy would go a long way to ensure that undocumented workers and their children can integrate fully in U.S. society and become successful contributing and tax-paying citizens of Virginia.
While the odds that this bill will pass the current General Assembly is slim, it raises serious attention to immigration and education in our state–and the stories of Virginians it highlights.
The story of Nelson Lopez and many others suggest our Commonwealth must take a close and concerted look at Del. Lopez’s bill and similar efforts. While it cannot grant a path to federal citizenship, his bill lays the groundwork for both changing our perception of immigrants and providing a solid background and opportunity for Virginia immigrants to be productive and resourceful people in our Commonwealth.
In a time where our state and country can use every possible resource to its advantage, depriving people of equal status and a fair shot at achieving a higher education undermines our Governor’s agenda to increase economic prosperity and increase higher education degrees. Conversely, we can reduce conflict between new Americans and established communities, increase civic participation, and strengthen our base of tax-paying Virginians, by measures like this. History shows that all Virginians benefit from a more unified Commonwealth.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of members of the NDP Steering Committee
It only seems right that if someone is born here they become a citizen automatically, regardless of partental citizenship, or at least they can make a choice when they are 18 which citizenship they want to have, this country or the country of their parent(s).
To deprive someone of an education that will only benefit the country in the long run (and short run) seems pretty dumb and short-sighted. But then, we have lots of those kind running around, don’t we, even with supposedly higher education levels.