Undocumented documentary

Each year in the United States 2.8 million students graduate from high school. Of those 2.8 million, 65,000 lack the legal documents to do the things in life that many of us take for granted. These things range from obtaining a driver's license in almost all states, to having the legal right to work and even, dependent upon University policy, attend college.  Texas is ahead of the curve on public policy, believe it or not, and some community colleges allow undocumented persons to attend school.

Graham Street Productions has released a documentary called "Papers" that illustrates the plight of these students. The film represents undocumented persons of many nationalities and brings this huge issue that is sweeping the nation into the limelight.  The Director of the film, Anne Galisky, along with the Producer, Rebecca Shine, put out "Papers" in a grassroots effort to help adolescents affected by the current immigration law.

"The film moves people and brings to light the stories of these young people that are not often heard," Shine said.

The documentary itself emits a sense of caring as well as urgency from the beginning to the end. Many people in the nation are not even aware that this problem exists; the magnitude to which it does is baffling. "Papers" brings this reality to life and leaves viewers motivated toward taking steps in the direction of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The students that are featured in the film are like any other student their age. They do the things that every teenager and young adult does. They contribute positively to society, and one young man Yo Sub graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and was even a National Merit Scholar.

He was denied admission into every college he applied to, even those with a 98 percent acceptance rate.  There are students that do very well in school and who have a promising future ahead of them and, because they lack the necessary paperwork (i.e. social security number), the door to that future is literally shut in their face.

However, a piece of legislation called the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act), if passed could provide undocumented students the key to that future.  The legislation was introduced on March 26, 2009 by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Representative Howard Berman of California. The act aims to provide minors who were brought into the United States by their parents the same opportunities as other youth who have grown up in the states.

There are certain provisions in the act that must be met, but the act itself aims to give those persons an opportunity to enlist in the military or enroll in an institute of higher education in order to give them a pathway to citizenship that they will not be provided without this piece of legislation.

ACC's Student Government Association, after careful review, has decided to support the DREAM Act.  SGA did careful research and Mike Atencio, Rio Grande Student Senator, provided students, faculty and staff with a well researched and unbiased presentation on the matter.  SGA then went out and collected over a 1,000 signatures on a petition that also supports the DREAM Act, in order to see how many students that attend ACC are immediately affected and/or know someone who is affected by the current immigration policy.
"The people that want to do something positive, something to better their lives should have just as much a right to that opportunity as anyone else," Atencio said.

"Papers" is a great tool that is and will continue to move the dreams of the young people in this nation forward that are affected by the current policy.