Two-year-old Armando Contreras lay asleep in the backseat with
his 1-year-old brother as they drove through the Tijuana border
point in 1986.
Officials checked identification for his aunt and uncle in the
front seat, who told the officials that Contreras, now a
fourth-year Chicana/o studies student, and his brother were their
children.
His aunt and uncle were U.S. residents already and the two
children didn’t arouse much suspicion as the guards checked
the car, only inches from Contreras’ terrified mother, who
was hidden inside the rear seat.
Finally across the border, the car pulled over on U.S. soil,
starting Contreras’ long journey to U.S. citizenship, a
process still in the making.
Contreras’ family, who entered as undocumented immigrants,
benefitted from the amnesty granted by the Immigration Reform and
Control Act of 1986, which allowed almost 3 million undocumented
immigrants to become legal residents and, eventually, citizens.
Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a professor of Chicana/o studies and
director of the North American Integration and Development Center
at UCLA, said he has had a number of students who were direct
beneficiaries of the same immigration amnesty granted in 1986 that
started Contreras on his road to citizenship.
“A very large number of students are here at UCLA because
of the … act of 1986,” he said.
While that amnesty program has since ended, similar legislation
has been proposed to tackle immigration reform, including a
controversial new program as a part of the Kennedy-McCain bill,
which would allow some of the estimated 12 million undocumented
people in the United States to become legal.
One factor that helped Contreras’ family to get through
the legal process to become residents was that his father had been
in the United States for several years before they arrived.
“It’s a lot easier when you already have family
who’ve gone through it,” Contreras said.
Contreras remained undocumented until his family received work
permits when he was 12 years old.
A work permit allows immigrants to remain in the country legally
while applying for a green card, though the permit must be renewed
every year and does not allow permanent residence.
Contreras said his non-resident status had never affected his
life until high school, when potential employers asked for his
Social Security Number, something he did not have.
At his high school in Huntington Park, he recalled, the section
where recent and typically undocumented immigrants hung out was
referred to pejoratively as “Little Tijuana.”
“It wasn’t until close to senior year (of high
school) that it affected me, and I realized … I’m one of
them too,” he said.
At the age of 17, Contreras received permanent resident status
and was able to visit his extended family in Mexico.
Before receiving permanent residence status, his family decided
against visiting Mexico in fear of the possibility of not being
allowed back in the United States.
While Contreras is still not a U.S. citizen and cannot vote, he
is able to attend UCLA as a resident of California, pay in-state
fees, and receive financial aid.
He said he realized the benefits of his family’s resident
status when he saw what was happening to his friends who are still
undocumented.
One of his high school friends was also accepted to UCLA but
could not attend because his status as a non-resident meant he
would need to pay fees as an international student.
“He couldn’t apply for financial aid and he
couldn’t apply for scholarships. Because of that he had to go
to community college, even though he’s just as qualified as I
am,” Contreras said.
Per Assembly Bill 540, state legislation signed into law in
2001, students who went to high school in California for three or
more years pay in-state fees, even if they are not legal
residents.
After the passage of that legislation, Contreras’ friend
was able to transfer to California State Polytechnic University,
Pomona, where he pays in-state fees.
“I feel very lucky,” Contreras said. “What he
had to go through to go to school, it made me realize the privilege
I had and how I need to take advantage of that.”
The Kennedy-McCain Bill currently being debated in the Senate
would create a new process for the legalization of undocumented
residents, the first of its kind since similar legislation in 1986
allowed Contreras and his family to begin the citizenship
process.
The process would require undocumented workers to first prove
they have been paying taxes and working, and then pay a fine.
They will then get temporary worker status while they apply for
green cards.
Applicants would then wait six years after receiving their green
cards to apply for citizenship.
Hinojosa-Ojeda emphasized his belief in the need for reform
similar to that in 1986, to resolve the legal issues surrounding
the 12 million people currently residing in the United States
illegally.
“Right now if you’re undocumented, there’s
virtually no process for legalization,” he said.
Jeanalee Obergfell, a second-year political science student and
the academic affairs coordinator of the Latin American Students
Association (LASA), said she believes there are many undocumented
students at UCLA and that many of them were brought here as
children.
“Most of the students who come to UCLA who are
undocumented came here not by their own choice. This is their home,
they want to work here and they want to go to school here,”
she said.
Contreras, having spent almost his entire life on this side of
the border, said he feels the United States is his home and he
hopes to become a full U.S. citizen at some point in the
future.
His main problem with not being a citizen is that he cannot
vote, which he also said is the main way his friends find out he
came to the United States illegally.
“I tell them, “˜You have the option of voting and you
don’t, while I don’t have the option,’ and
that’s when we start talking (about how I came),” he
said.
Contreras said one of his family’s main reasons for
immigrating was for him and his brothers to get an education.
His father refers to uneducated manual laborers as
“burros,” which means donkey in Spanish.
“From the very first moment when we came here, our only
purpose was to go to school,” he said. “(My father)
didn’t want us to become “˜burros.'”