Dear Presidents' Alliance Member,
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We write to you today to share several important updates regarding the Alliance's work in support of Dreamers:
New MPI report
- research commissioned by the Presidents' Alliance - estimates that close to 100,000 undocumented students graduate high school annually, a significant increase from the commonly used, older estimate of 65,000. Read the fact sheet and our statement, details below.
New Steering Committee letter
in support of the bipartisan Dream Act of 2019 and the SECURE Act sent today. See below.
New data
on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). See below.
Important reminder:
Sign up to participate in next week's
Higher Education Week of Action
in support of the Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6). Check out actions to consider below.
We also wish to welcome four new members to our Steering Committee: Presidents Alan Cramb (Illinois Institute of Technology), José Luis Cruz (Lehman College - CUNY), Kent Ingle (Southeastern University), and Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz (University of Arkansas).
We hope these updates are helpful in your advocacy on behalf of immigrant students. We look forward to sharing additional updates and next steps as legislation and other initiatives related to immigrant and international students move forward.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Miriam Feldblum and Jose Magaña-Salgado
Executive Director and Director of Policy and Communications
Presidents’ Alliance Team
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MPI Report Commissioned by Alliance: Nearly 100k Dreamers Graduate from High School Annually
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Today, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
released a report
commissioned by the Alliance that found close to 100k Dreamers (undocumented students) graduate from high school every year.
You can also read our statement
here
, issued jointly with TheDream.US, Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education, NACAC, and United We Dream, and download the fact sheet
here
. Key findings include:
- MPI estimates that 98,000 undocumented students, ages 15 to 19, graduate from high school every year, a dramatic increase from the commonly used estimate of 65,000 students per year.
- MPI provides state-level estimates for the top 15 states, including California, which accounts for approximately 27,000 of the 98,000 graduating each year, Texas (17,000), Florida (5,000), New York (4,000), New Jersey (4,000), Illinois (4,000), Georgia (3,000), North Carolina (3,000), Virginia (2,000), Arizona (2,000), Maryland (2,000), Washington (2,000), Colorado (1,000), Nevada (1,000), and Massachusetts (1,000).
- Close to 20% (18,000) of all undocumented high school graduates live in other states.
You can download the report
here
.
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Steering Committee Letter on Dream Act of 2019 and SECURE Act
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Today, the Alliance's Steering Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Senate in support of the Dream Act of 2019 and the SECURE Act, which would establish a road map to citizenship for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure holders.
You can view the letter on our website
here
, or download it
here.
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New Data and Statistics on DACA
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USCIS recently released a variety of data related to DACA as of January 31, 2019, including the number of current DACA recipients and DACA recipients broken down by state. You can browse the data at the Alliance's website
here
.
What Do These Statistics Tell Us?
The number of DACA recipients
continues to decrease
with some likely to have adjusted status and others simply fallen out of status due to an inability to renew, possibly due to cost or concerns regarding confidentiality.
The numbers make a strong case that Congress needs to enact legislation to protect active DACA recipients and other Dreamers, particularly in light of the growing number of individuals who are losing their protection or unable to apply for the first time. Legislation is imperative to ensure that undocumented youth and young adults can reach their full potential, and fully contribute to their communities and regions. Below, we outline actions to consider for campuses in light of this data.
Actions to Consider for Institutions
- Advocate for access to federal aid and in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students.
- Audit your own institutional scholarships, privately funded scholarships, national, non-government scholarships to identify if their eligibility includes undocumented students, and if not, if the eligibility criteria can be changed.
- Extend tuition scholarships eligibility and structure financial funding for professional and graduate school for both DACA and undocumented students.
- Support licensure reform to extend eligibility to those who meet the qualifications, regardless of immigration status, or at least to those with work permits.
- Know your state and populations by reviewing the USCIS state-by-state data breakdown of DACA recipients; and check out how many Dreamers and TPS holders would qualify for relief under H.R. 6 in our toolkit resources.
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Reminder - Education Week of Action Next Week
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Don't forget, the Alliance, in partnership with other organizations, campuses, and institutions, is co-hosting a higher education week of action the week of April 29, 2019 in support of the Dream and Promise Act of 2019.
In support of this week of action, the Alliance created a
toolkit
, containing sample tweets, talking points, and instructions on contacting Congress. You can also download the entire toolkit
here
.
Campuses, organizations and individuals can sign up for the national call-in day scheduled to take place Monday, April 29, 2019
here
.
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