The DREAM Act and the Right to Equal Educational Opportunity: An Analysis of

Ashley Feasley, Fordham University School of Law

Abstract

Under the current U.S. immigration laws, undocumented children face deportation and are frequently denied access to higher education. The 2011 Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (“DREAM”) Act would provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal alien applicants who graduate from U.S. high schools, are of good moral character, arrived in the U.S. illegally as minors, and have been residing in the U.S. continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment. The DREAM Act proposes touches on a variety of human rights issues, including the right to education and the right to be free from discrimination.

An evaluation of the international human rights and the U.S. domestic legal frameworks highlights the rights that are at stake in the debate over the 2011 DREAM Act. This article argues that by denying undocumented children access to higher education, the U.S. government is violating their obligations under the UDHR and UCCPR, as related to discrimination of social groups. Furthermore, by denying undocumented students access to higher education that would be provided by the DREAM Act, undocumented students are being discriminated against participating and contributing in American society and civic life and are being denied the equality of educational opportunity.