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Proclaiming “Education is an opportunity to success!” and “All human beings deserve equality and dignity,” 30 students held a candlelight vigil to support a state bill that would allow undocumented students access to financial aid at state universities and colleges.
The “Vigil for Afford To Dream” took place as sun set Saturday behind Hamden City Hall. Organized by a statewide group called Connecticut Students for a Dream, it supported Connecticut Senate Bill 147, “An Act Assisting Students without Legal Immigration Status with the Cost of College.”
Participants in the vigil noted that the students and their families pay tuition that goes toward the public scholarships, and argued that they therefore should be able to benefit from the scholarships as well.
Yenimar Cortes.
Yenimar Cortes, a senior at New Haven’s Hill Regional Career High School, spoke of how she left Mexico as a child “by the hands of my desperate mother, who desired a better future for her daughters.”
“I remember her telling me that America is the place where all my dreams will become a reality. She was right, because in four months I will become a graduate from the class of 2016, but this is not the end for me. College is essential to make my dream of becoming a physician to help those most vulnerable a reality. But I do not qualify for financial aid or most scholarships because of my status,” Cortes said.
“My anguish and frustration was so great that one day I just sat in my room looking through all my college acceptance letters crying, I saw my dream being denied to me. No human being feel that way. There is no barrier that does not allow Connecticut statutes and regulations from giving institutional aid to undocumented students.”
Jordy Padilla.
“I am in support of SB147 because it will provide institutional aid to other undocumented students like myself that are striving to become engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. within the state of Connecticut,” said Jordy Padilla, a University of Connecticut grad and New Haven Promise scholarships recipient who now works as an engineer on the I‑95 New Haven Harbor Crossing project. “I was able to fulfill my dream and become an engineer, other deserve the same chance. I remember in college making a choice between buying a sandwich for lunch or saving money for bus fare to get home. Tough choices are common for undocumented students.“
Jordy Padilla says that he was undocumented and he earned the New Haven Promise scholarship. Why would that not be available to Yenimar Cortes?