Illegal immigrants hold D.C. 'teach-in' to push bill

WASHINGTON — They can't get citizenship or in-state tuition rates, so they're taking the next steps — the Capitol and White House steps, that is.

A coalition of student immigrant advocacy groups in Massachusetts, Colorado and California on Wednesday launched a makeshift school in the nation's capital, reminiscent of the "teach-ins" of the 1960s, to encourage a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants through college enrollment.

The first class at "Dream University" — a school with informal classes and volunteer professors and instructors from around the country — was held Wednesday outside the White House, with more planned in the weeks ahead. Students don't get credit for the classes, but they're free.

The first class of about 27 students, several wearing white DREAM University T-shirts, gathered at Lafayette Park, across from the White House.

Cady Landa, a former Boston public schoolteacher, led the students in a discussion of a report recently released by the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.

"It's not only an education," Landa said about the protest classes, "it's turning around a terrible situation and making it a positive situation."

Pedro Perez, who is attending college in Wisconsin, said being in the country illegally forced him to turn down a private school scholarship. Because they are in the country illegally, the students can't work to pay their way through school.

"It's hard to go back to Mexico. It's like an unknown country to me. I've been here since I was 3," Perez said.

The classes could allow undocumented students who can't afford tuition rates in some states a chance to attend classes, said Carlos Saavedra, national coordinator for a Washington-based group called United We Dream.

The Dream University plan calls for students, regardless of immigration status, to attend classes of 20 in history, civil rights, science, music and other subjects taught by professors from Washington's Georgetown and American universities.

Tom Shields, a doctoral student at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., said he and two of his colleagues also have agreed to teach classes soon, and organizers say more professors from elsewhere will join.

The idea for the school came about after the Massachusetts-based Student Immigrant Movement group held a 19-day around-the-clock vigil outside of the Massachusetts Statehouse to protest a measure that would have imposed greater restrictions on illegal immigrants.