On Thursday, December 17th, students and activists of the Nashville DREAM Act Committee, a part of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, visited the office of Representative Jim Cooper (TN-5) with a holiday message concerning the passage of the DREAM Act.

As told in The Tennessean:

They carried a small Christmas tree and small signs calling for the passage of the DREAM Act, but the legislation is locked in committee, and the health-care debate has sucked the air out of other issues.

The 40 demonstrators, including documented and undocumented students, asked for a legal, affordable way the latter can enroll in and attend college.

Stocking Stuffers

The students also made Christmas stockings for Representative Cooper and stuffed them with symbolic diplomas, with the hope that with his co-sponsorship of the DREAM Act and increased action in both houses of Congress, those diplomas might be real someday soon.

Representative Cooper, a Democrat who has represented Tennessee’s 5th District since 2003, heard testimonies from immigrant student leaders of TIRRC sometime in July, but has been hesitant to take further action by co-sponsoring the DREAM Act. He is also a supporter of the 287(g) program in Nashville, where it has been in place since early 2007.

The program gives local law enforcement the power to inquire into the immigration status of anyone they suspect of a crime, including traffic stops, which can then lead to the subsequent detention and deportation of certain people. The provision has been controversial in the various cities and counties it has been implemented in across the nation, due to claims of racial profiling and the increased burden on local law enforcement.

The activists were hoping to encourage Representative Cooper to follow in the footsteps of Representative Steve Cohen from Tennessee’s 9th district, who became the first Tennessee Representative to co-sponsor the DREAM Act last month.

Nationally, it’s estimated 65,000 undocumented high school students graduate from high school each year. In Tennessee, it’s about 1,000 students, said Eli Feghali, spokesman for the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition. Some students give up altogether and drop out, Fegahli said. That, he said, boosts the rate of high school dropouts.

Hopefully Representative Cooper will give our Tennessee Dreamers their Christmas wish.

For more information about DREAM Act activism in Tennessee and other ways to take action, visit the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.