TO THE EDITOR:
I read your article on in-state tuition for undocumented youth. I think it should be noted that while many use the term “illegal immigrants,” this is often shortened simply to “illegals” in order to provide some emotional distance from these “illegals” in an attempt to dehumanize them in order to lessen remorse of the blind dislike or even hatred for them.
Also interesting is that the DREAM Act had bipartisan support for some time and that many undocumented people do pay taxes, albeit working with a false Social Security number, and those who don’t typically do so because they struggle to find a job that does not require or check social security numbers.
Without that, I feel the article falls a bit short, and it feels as though the author has a somewhat narrow understanding of many of the implications of this new party platform. I by no means intend to criticize the article, but I do feel it was missing important aspects.
Also, I know someone who was accepted into Cornell University but couldn’t go because she was “international” (a term many colleges use for undocumented youth) and received no financial aid aside from small outside scholarships, despite being qualified to attend a school that is generally generous with its financial aid. So there are a lot of sides to the issue of undocumented youth attempting to receive a higher education.
Jenny Hernandez ’15
University of Rochester
Psychology
