By: Erica Romero, VP, Education Policy and Advocacy

It has been 22 years since the first Dream Act was introduced in Congress. In those two decades, hundreds of thousands of immigrant students have graduated from high school and college with the skills and degrees needed to power our nation’s economy, but for many without the opportunity to fully participate in our workforce.

This loss of human capital should be a national and economic emergency, especially as the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program remains in limbo.

I’m reminded about this egregious loss of potential every single time I speak with Latino undocumented college students who have overcome tremendous obstacles and excelled academically. They are the first in their family to attend college, but are uncertain about their future. The Latino student who is working to become a teacher in Texas. The Latina student in Florida who is preparing to become a nurse. The Latino students who are preparing to become doctors and lawyers in California. There are thousands of these stories that often get lost in the public discourse about education, but would benefit from sensible policy solutions.

DACA is a good example of how our nation benefits when immigrant students are given the opportunity to leverage their college education and degrees to enter the workforce. Since the program went into effect 11 years ago, about 20,000 DACA recipients have become teachers, another 30,000 have become healthcare workers, and thousands work in non-profits helping local communities and families. If all of these individuals lose their work permits, it will not just be devastating to our economy, but to our education system as well.

Federal policymakers don’t have to wait until the next court ruling to decide their next steps on how best to support immigrant students in our higher education system. There are many policy vehicles they could enact right now, including:

• Provide undocumented students with a pathway to citizenship. As a nation, we have invested in students to go through our K-12 system. Some states have also invested in students to attend college. And these students have paid that back by excelling academically and obtaining college degrees. However, their lack of citizenship status locks them out of countless opportunities after they obtain their degrees, especially gaining meaningful employment and career opportunities. By providing undocumented students with a pathway to citizenship, our policymakers could strengthen our economy and workforce, especially in key areas such as our educator and healthcare workforce.
• Make federal financial aid, especially the federal Pell Grant, available to undocumented students. Given the unique circumstances that some immigrant students are in, since many lack work authorization and can’t receive federal financial aid, they carry a disproportionately heavier burden when it comes to attending and paying for college. This high cost of attending college deters many students from attending college altogether. By opening up financial aid to immigrant students, policymakers can incentivize more to attend college and support them in completing college.

We cannot continue to miss out on the talent and skills that the millions of immigrant students in our country possess, especially at a time when our nation is experiencing extreme labor shortages in education, in healthcare, and in so many other sectors. Instead, we should invest in this talent, and provide them with the opportunity to fully participate in the workforce and economy because our entire nation would reap the benefits of smart and sensible policies like these.

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Erica Romero serves as Vice President of Education Policy and Advocacy at Latinos for Education in Washington, DC.  She is responsible for providing thought leadership, policy analysis, policy development, and cultivating key partner relations with decision makers and influencers in the federal education space. 

She previously served as Assistant Vice President of State Advocacy at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, as well as Vice President of External Relations at the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. She is a graduate of both UC Berkeley and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.