Bryan Wells
News Reporter

American flags and banners waved. Students, teachers and others gathered to demonstrate and to persuade others of their cause.
It’s a common scene on American college campuses, where constitutional rights protect peaceful rallies. However, supporting a cause in public takes courage. Demonstrators expose themselves and can easily be made a target of those with dissenting views.
Bottles and other objects can be hurled into crowds with impunity. But it’s one thing to demonstrate as a U.S. citizen who is guaranteed that right, an entirely different one to demonstrate as an illegal alien—who can be arrested and deported. This was the case for many of the individuals who rallied on the southeastern corner of Mesa State’s campus on Sept. 20.
“Some are worried that they could be tracked down by INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and then deported,” said Cheyenne Gentry, the student learning director at Grand Junction High School “For [immigrant] kids who have been in the U.S. for as long as they can remember, Mexico is a foreign country.”
Gentry and others at the rally were advocating for the Dream Act or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. According to Gentry, the Dream Act would allow undocumented and non-native students who have graduated from U.S. high schools to attend college and pay in-state tuition and eventually become U.S. citizens after having met a number of requirements. She said there are students at Mesa State College who would benefit from the act.
Although the act would certainly garner support from undocumented and non-native students, Gentry explained that it was difficult in some cases to persuade those students to attend the rally.
“There were some who wouldn’t come or parents who wouldn’t let their children come because they thought the rally was an INS scam,” Gentry said. “I’m sad that they thought this but I can understand their fears.”
Some at the rally appeared nervous and wary of television news cameras. Some refused to give their names when asked or even to speak at all. However, the majority of people at the rally seemed completely at ease as they laughed and visited with fellow demonstrators in both English and Spanish. Many were adamant in expressing their views.
“One of my friends really wants to study, I think she should have the opportunity,” said Rosa Herrera Vargas, a Grand Junction High School graduate who has been accepted to Mesa State.
However, not everyone at the rally supported the Dream Act. Arvid Mosnes, a Grand Junction local who was born in Seattle and raised in Norway, repeatedly tried to drown out the Dream Act demonstrators’ bullhorn with a chant of his own –“Not on my taxes.”
“I do not appreciate the fact that we grant benefits, privileges to people coming over the border illegally, we can’t afford it. We’re broke,” Mosnes said.
Mosnes expounded on his viewpoints and added that the Mexican government is building walls on its southern border to keep out illegal aliens.
“There’s no country on the face of the planet that gives illegal immigrants a free pass, none,” Mosnes said.
Karen Sherman-Perez, the Western Slope Coordinator of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said that the act wasn’t just for people who came over the border illegally but only for those who came over at a young age. In addition, she said that those who sought to benefit from the Dream Act would have to meet a number of requirements in order to qualify. According to her, the bill isn’t necessarily a free pass.
“The Dream Act is for individuals who were brought into the U.S. before the age of 15,” said Sherman-Perez. “The act doesn’t apply to all.”
According to the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Dream Act would grant students who came to the U.S. by the age of 15, at least five years before the date of the bill’s enactment and were under the age of 35, conditional permanent resident status upon graduating from a U.S. high school, receiving a GED, or being accepted to a college. Students would not be eligible for Pell grants or other federal financial aid grants and would be disqualified from relief had they committed any crimes.
Conditional permanent resident status would allow those students to participate in day-to-day activities as other Americans for six years. In that six years, students must either graduate from a two year college, have studied for two years toward a B.A. or higher degree, or those served in the U.S. armed forces for at least two years if they wish to obtain regular lawful permanent resident status.
Sherman-Perez attributed the organization of the Dream Act Rally to CIRC and the Western Colorado Justice for Immigrant Committees and explained that the goal of these organizations is to advance and defend justice for immigrants and refugees.
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bwells@mesastate.edu