Today, our very own GRF Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera spoke about the DREAM act and the experience of DREAMers in the United States. As President Obama has previously said, undocumented youth (DREAMers) are American in every way except for on paper. This means that these youth cannot get their driver’s license, travel, apply for a job, or go to college. The latter has become the focus of legislation and campaigns to change the negative stigma associated with undocumented youth and permit them the right to attend college.

Over the course of this Rose Cafe, we examined numerous images related to DREAMers. One such picture campaign urged the passing of the Dream Act with the message of education instead of deportation and an image of a DREAMer girl in a cap and gown. The coloring of the picture removed the focus from race and instead zoomed in on the issue of granting youth the right to get an education. In a pair of “immigrant crossing” signs, education was also a major focal point. In one caution sign, immigrants were depicted in a way that reinforced and called upon all the negative stereotypes associated with undocumented children. In the other caution sign, the youth were all grown up and dressed, once again, in caps and gowns, almost as if they are running towards graduation and other great big goals.

The images associated with and the experiences of undocumented youth are quite multifaceted. Therefore, I agree with Esmeralda’s assessment that the “DREAMer” term itself is very narrow and makes it seem that the only problem is education, when in fact being undocumented is restrictive in many other ways as well. Moreover, while it is seems like a positive point that undocumented youth have been decriminalized, it is unfortunate that this is at the expense of criminalizing their parents. The issue of undocumented youth in the United State is one that is ongoing, and clearly has much more room to develop.