By Denver University News ~ April 19, 2018
On April 13, education professionals interested in study abroad and academic programs serving international constituencies gathered at the University of Denver’s fifth annual Internationalization Summit for a full day of programming. The day’s events focused on a theme of increasing relevance as countries all over the world grapple with immigration issues: “What’s with a border? Inter/national engagement in a troubled world.”
In his keynote address, Armando Vazquez-Ramos, an activist and academic known for robust advocacy for California’s Latino population, called on university educators to create bold programs for Dreamers, those students who came to the U.S. as undocumented children.
“Be daring,” he told a crowd of education professionals focused on study abroad and international programming. “This population is growing rather than disappearing.”
University of Denver’s 5th Annual Internationalization Summit (Photo: Wayne Armstrong)
A faculty member at California State University-Long Beach’s Chicano and Latino Studies program and president and CEO of the California-Mexico Studies Center Inc., Vazquez-Ramos followed his own advice in 2014. That’s when he established a study abroad program for undocumented students of Mexican descent. Over the course of his keynote address — titled “American Dreamers and DACA’s Murky Future: The Borders Within” — he described the initiative’s origins, benefits and considerable challenges.
Under the study abroad program, students returned to the country and communities of their birth to learn about their history and culture. The experience allowed them to contemplate and explore their relationship not just to Mexico but also to the United States. By interacting with everyday Mexican citizens, many of them came to realize just how American they feel.
To ensure these students could return to the United States legally, Vazquez-Ramos relied on an immigration policy known as “advance parole.” This program provides a re-entry permit to a non-citizen traveler who does not have a valid immigrant visa.
Without advance parole, even those undocumented students protected by the immigration policy known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) would have been refused re-entry to the U.S. (DACA, established by President Barack Obama in 2015, allows individuals brought to the U.S. illegally as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation. In fall 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to scrap the program, creating uncertainty and fear among the estimated 800,000 people shielded by the policy.)
Such fears, Vazquez-Ramos explained, have traumatized many Dreamers, resulting in what he calls “Immigrant Stress Disorder.” What’s more, many dreamers carry “a heavy burden of guilt” related to their immigration status and their complex relationships with relatives in the U.S. and Mexico.
To address these burdens through effective programs, institutions of higher education must learn to confront their own qualms and reservations.
“When we are talking about this element of fear, it is also institutional,” Vazquez-Ramos said, noting that, too often, educators have opted to dodge issues related to the Dreamer population. Instead, he argued, they should do more to understand the needs of this population.
“We need sensitivity and understanding at the top,” he said. “I challenge all of you to do more.”
To view Profesor Vazquez-Ramos’ powerpoint presentation, click here.
Source: Denver University News ~ April 19, 2018
