New INS rules keeping undocumented from attending college
Pilar Verdes.
Atlanta, U.S., December 3, 2002 (EFE)- Many young Hispanics are being prevented from enrolling at U.S. community colleges because of tougher regulations requiring that they prove they are either legal residents or citizens.
Wendy Camacho, a 20-year-old Mexican immigrant, would like to attend Coosa Valley Technical College, but without proof of legal residency or citizenship she cannot enroll and will have to keep working as a cashier at a shopping center.
"When I'm working I feel sad, disappointed in myself. I don't want to be here. I envisioned something else for my future," said Camacho, who dreams of being a dental assistant or nurse.
"I know I can study, if not here, I'll go to Mexico. If all doors are closed to me here, I can go to Mexico and get a student visa and come back later," she said.
Her father, Sergio Camacho, who works as a welder, said he is also disillusioned, after struggling to give his children a chance for a better future in the United States.
"I don't want to see my daughter spend her whole life behind a counter. She really likes to study," he said.
According to Stuart M. Phillips, director of student services at the CVTC Gordon County Campus, regulations prevent the community college from registering non-citizen students without a Green Card.
The change in policy was ordered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which sent the institution new regulations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that also prevent the community college from accepting students with tourist visas.
According to the 2000 Census, roughly 1,820 Hispanics live in Calhoun, which has a total population of 10,670.
"I feel bad. The doors to being somebody in life close in on you. You get stuck, you try to climb a step and they tell you that you can't go any higher," Wendy's father said.
"We didn't come here with the intention of taking anything away from this country," said Camacho, whose son who would also like to go to college after graduating from high school.
CVTC, whose central campus is located in Rome, Georgia, is not regulated by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia - the governing body for 34 universities in the state - but by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE).
In 2000, the Board of Regents announced undocumented immigrants could attend Georgia's state universities if they met certain academic criteria.
But these students have to pay out-of-state tuition, which amounts to four times as much as Georgia residents, even if they have lived in the state for many years.
Nonetheless, the Board of Regents established new regulations allowing university presidents to exempt exceptional students from having to pay out-of-state tuition. EFE
