Education dilemma for illegals

Anne isn't naive. She knows her undocumented status could prevent her from taking the bar exam, which is key to her dream of becoming an immigration attorney.

She also knows the 2002 law that allows her to pay in-state tuition in Utah is under attack this year. She'd be grandfathered in, but the thought of her younger brother's potential obstacle to higher education brings her to tears.

"We talk about how cool it is to go to the university, how he's going to play football and how he's going to be an architect," she said. "How am I going to tell him he can't go? It makes me really sad."

Anne asked not to be identified for fear of losing the retail job she's working to help pay for school and save money for her family. She lives in an apartment with her brother, older sister, mother and grandmother. Her sister and mother work factory jobs as they save to someday purchase a home.

Yet, despite all the obstacles she faces, Anne, 18, is hopeful for her future as she pursues a political science degree at the University of Utah, along with minors in business and ethnic studies, and works toward law school. She's an avid reader and enjoys playing soccer.

"I'm optimistic. The DREAM Act, that's what I'm hoping for," she said, referring to a federal proposal that has yet to become law that would allow undocumented youths who have lived here at least five years to earn legal status through higher education or military service.

Anne sees it as her only shot for a green card.

"I came without a passport, without documents," said Anne, who moved to Utah from Mexico at age 13. The move came after her parents divorced and sold the grocery store they had opened together. "They lost all the money."

The law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition if they attend a Utah high school for three years and graduate was passed in 2002 in anticipation of the federal DREAM Act. But that federal law has failed to materialize since students were first admitted under the waiver in 2003.

Last year, the provision was included in the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform measure, but the House and Senate never reached accord on immigration.

Bad DREAMS

Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, said he is sponsoring HB224 to repeal the in-state tuition benefit in large part because of the DREAM Act's repeated failure. The bill is likely to be debated on the House floor this week.

"We can't afford to give these students 'gotchas,"' Donnelson said. "The best thing I can do is repeal this so we don't get caught in a bind. We're selling them false hope, and because of that we're wrong."