Students launch immigrant group on campus

A Penn student is looking to bring to light the struggles that undocumented students may face on campus and throughout Philadelphia.

Last week, Wharton sophomore Tania Chairez — who came out as an undocumented student in a Daily Pennsylvanian guest column in October — launched Penn for Immigrant Rights.

The new club, which Chairez started with Wharton and College junior and Latino Coalition Chair Angel Contrera, will collaborate with DreamActivist Pennsylvania, an undocumented youth-led organization that advocates for the rights of immigrant communities.

Contrera explained that Penn for Immigrant Rights’ focus is “to truly connect our university to the Philadelphia community.”

“We want to educate and inform the Penn community about the human rights issues that arise when having this important discussion,” he wrote in an email. “We want people to understand how whatever we do here at Penn can have a larger impact that can help improve the way of life for many people.”

Soon after the federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act — which would have allowed children born abroad who are not United States citizens or legal residents to attend college or join the military and eventually be granted citizenship — failed to make it through Congress in 2010, Chairez began working with DreamActivist Pennsylvania to lobby for undocumented students’ rights.

Like DreamActivist Pennsylvania, Chairez hopes that Penn for Immigrant Rights will help students understand some of the challenges undocumented youth may face.

“It’s very important for people to understand that it’s not just my story,” she said. “Even in Pennsylvania, there are around 850 students that graduate from high school each year as undocumented and don’t know what to do … My story is just one account.”

According to Chairez, the club — which had its first general body meeting on Friday — will be the first of its kind at Penn that is devoted entirely to human rights for immigrant communities.

The club’s concept, however, is not new to the Ivy League. Brown University, for example, has its own Brown Immigrant Rights Coalition, and the Columbia University School of Law hosts a Society for Immigrant and Refugee Rights club.

Among Penn for Immigrant Rights’ goals will be to bring the Ivy League Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Summit to campus next year, said College junior Karla Rivera, a member of the group.

Last year, Harvard University hosted the summit.

Rivera added that the club also hopes to rectify the misconception that the issues of undocumented youth only affect the Latino community.

“We also want to promote ‘Drop the I-word,’ which campaigns for the eradication of the term ‘illegal’ immigrant,” she said.

Penn for Immigrant Rights decided to launch independently of the 5B, the University’s five minority coalitions.

“We don’t want the club to be a Latin thing. We don’t want people to think it’s a Latin issue,” Chairez said. “If we’re going to choose an umbrella organization at Penn, we’re going to choose very carefully.”

Chairez added that “people tend to think that the only ‘good’ undocumented people are the celebrities and valedictorians. But they tend to forget about the more common people who perhaps didn’t have the same opportunities. People tend to make a distinction between ‘good dreamers’ and ‘bad dreamers.’”

For College freshman Alex Rodrigues, joining Penn for Immigrant Rights represents an opportunity to engage in productive discussions and activist work.

“I have friends who are undocumented back home, so I’m very passionate about the issue,” he said. “Penn for Immigrant Rights will serve as a guidebook for navigating Penn as [undocumented students] strive to lead a successful life.”

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