Aliento invited people to partake in its two-week marathon challenge “2K for 2K” via social media from April 2 through April 16 to advocate for in-state tuition for Arizona “DREAMers.”
“DREAMer,” a term that was publicized after the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a federal proposal introduced in 2001 that was never approved, refers to young undocumented immigrants who came to the United State as children.
The term includes recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which was enacted under former President Barack Obama’s administration, conveys temporary protection for undocumented immigrants from deportation and permission to legally work. As of 2020, Arizona is home to almost 24,000 DACA recipients, according to the American Immigration Council.
2K For 2K, short for “2,000 miles for 2,000 dreams,” represents “the numbers of DREAMers who graduate from Arizona high schools every year without a clear pathway to higher education,” the event website stated.
“I personally believe that everyone should have access to higher education, there shouldn’t be any boundaries to prevent you from getting that access to higher education,” said Emely Saenz Gomez, an Aliento Arizona 2021 fellow and Arizona State University student.
“A lot of these students who aren’t getting the same in-state tuition we have are the ones who graduated from the same high school as we went to,” Gomez said.
“They are some of the people that were on top of their classes, put in extra effort, but ended up not going to universities due to monetary reasons,” Gomez added.
The event was organized by Aliento, a nonprofit, youth-led advocacy organization based in Mesa that serves undocumented, DACA and mixed immigration status families. The organization provides educational and wellness resources as well as advocacy campaigns to bring forward legislation that helps the impacted communities.
“I feel like the marathon challenge was a good way of doing that. I mean, everyone walks; and a lot of people like to go hiking, so why not pledge something that you already do every day and support a really good cause?” Gomez said.
Juan Carlos Cisneros Suarez, a Benedictine University student, started the 2K for 2K Marathon Challenge in 2021 during his fellowship with Aliento. Cisneros came up with an unconventional way to engage the community during COVID-19 and spread awareness about more affordable education for undocumented and DACA recipient students. These students do not have access to in-state tuition rates and federal or state financial aid in Arizona.
“Imagine living in a state that you have lived in for your whole life and then you have to pay out-of-state tuition,” Gomez said.
Currently, undocumented and DACA recipient students have been eligible for a tuition rate that is 150% of in-state tuition at state universities, after the Arizona Board of Regents voted 8-0 for the change in 2019, according to the Arizona Republic. The rate is higher than the in-state rate, but considerably less than the out-of-state rate.
In this November’s election, SCR1044, a ballot measure that was approved by the Arizona state Legislature in 2021 will let voters in Arizona decide whether “DREAMers” can qualify for in-state tuition rates. If passed, undocumented students who have lived in Arizona for more than two years and graduated from the state’s high schools can be eligible for the lowered tuition and state and federal-funded scholarships.
“If we succeed with the marathon challenge, we can bring some eyes to the bill on the ballot, and that’s really helpful,” Cisneros said.
Arizona has a history of restricting undocumented immigration. In 2006, a ballot measure Proposition 300 blocked the opportunities for undocumented students to receive in-state tuition. In 2010, Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 made it a state misdemeanor crime for non-citizens who fail to complete and carry immigrant registration documents. In 2011’s HB 2008, the state legislature denied subsidized tuition for students who are not able to provide lawful status based on 12 specific types of documents.
“Arizona has been very hard on undocumented students and families,” Cisneros said.
“The bill I talked about would be the first bill in Arizona that is pro-undocumented, everything else has been against.”
Through advocacy campaigns and social engagement programs like 2K for 2K, Aliento hopes to make undocumented and DACA students’ education more accessible and affordable.
“We want to give a voice and create a basis for people who typically are voiceless or typically don’t have the space to be able to speak,” said Jose Patiño, the education and external affairs director at Aliento.
“We are talking about those who are undocumented, and those DACA recipients that otherwise wouldn’t come out and have those conversations because of the fear of stigma and fear of shame,” Patiño added.
For many young people of Aliento like Jose Patiño and Juan Cisneros, the opportunities to pursue higher education have helped them achieve their full potential and allowed them to give back to the community.
“We want to help create a community in a society that is more inclusive, more tolerant, that finds similarities rather than differences, that brings together people, that finds solutions for all of us,” Patiño said.
“A community that doesn’t demonize other groups because they are different or they were born in different places.”
To participate in the challenge, people pledged their miles and documented their exercise activities and then shared their progress on social media with the tag #2kfor2k to collectively gain 2,000 miles. The event also organized community hikes on Saturdays for two weeks on South Mountain Park and Preserve.
Regarding the public engagement, there have been 2450.1 miles pledged in this year’s marathon challenge, according to Aliento’s Instagram account.
“This is to make sure people will go out and vote, and make them see the importance that education has on the undocumented community so that they understand why we would fight so hard to get this through,” Cisneros explained.
Contact the reporter at bthai5@asu.edu.
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