{"id":6515,"date":"2018-04-06T12:27:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T16:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/?p=6515"},"modified":"2018-04-06T12:27:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T16:27:16","slug":"sc-bill-could-give-dreamers-new-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/sc-bill-could-give-dreamers-new-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"SC bill could give “Dreamers” new opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Maria Garcia was born in Mexico, but she has lived in South Carolina since she was a young girl. She considers the United States her home.<\/p>\n

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Maria Garcia joined with other “Dreamers” and their allies at a State House rally. Credit: S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/SC-DREAMERS-2.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n

Maria Garcia, one of the so-called “Dreamers,” \u00a0has had to pay out-of state tuition every year, despite living in South Carolina since she was a little girl because she was brought to the U.S. without documentation.<\/p>\n

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Maria Garcia has been a student at the University of South Carolina for almost four years. Garcia is excited to graduate in May, but despite living in Bluffton, South Carolina since she was 3, she was never able to receive in-state tuition or state scholarships. The reason: Garcia is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals\u00a0<\/strong>recipient.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been easy on Garcia and her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had to pay out–of state tuition which can get really pricey,\u201d\u00a0Garcia\u00a0<\/strong>said. \u201cFortunately my dad has been able to help me with it, but it was still pretty hard.\u00a0I have two other siblings that he has to care for.\u201d<\/p>\n

DACA\u00a0is<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a program that was established under the Obama administration in 2012. It grants undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children protection from deportation, access to work permits and the ability to go to college.<\/p>\n

While the program has been\u00a0<\/strong>implemented nationwide,\u00a0in South Carolina there are some restrictions for those commonly referred to as \u201cDreamers.”\u00a0Other states in the United States allow DACA recipients to receive in-state, merit-based scholarships and even professional licenses, but\u00a0in South Carolina it’s not allowed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Garcia, along with about 70 other South Carolina DACA recipients\u00a0and their allies went to the State House\u00a0<\/strong>this past February. They were asking lawmakers to pass a bill that could change their fates.<\/p>\n

Rep. Neal Collins, R-Pickens, has introduced legislation (House Bill-H4435)<\/a>\u00a0 that would remove the current restrictions on DACA recipients in South Carolina. It would allow them to pay in-state tuition at S.C. colleges, apply for state-sponsored scholarships and even receive professional licenses from state boards.<\/p>\n

As the crossover date in the House approaches, the likelihood that the bill will get passed into law this session diminishes. But that hasn\u2019t stopped Collins from fighting for his bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not looking good for this year, but the one good thing is awareness has been raised,\u201d Collins said. \u201cMuch more so than it has been in the past. And should I be re-elected, it\u2019s going to be filed again.\u201d<\/p>\n

A<\/span><\/span>s for Garcia, she doesn\u2019t plan on backing down either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna keep fighting. Keep doing what I can do,\u201d Garcia\u00a0said. \u201cThis is my home, I can\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A state lawmaker wants to protect South Carolina’s “Dreamers,” those young people brought illegally to the United States. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":7020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39,68],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6515"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7787,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6515\/revisions\/7787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}