Washington State just passed a law yesterday allowing children of illegal immigrants access to state grants and financial aid for higher education. This law is extremely important for Washington’s ever growing Hispanic immigrant population.
The affected group still has to overcome some hurdles though. They have to go through three years of high school to qualify for aid as opposed to just living in the US for a year.
An interesting part of this was that this bill was created by a bipartisan coalition of policymakers. While Republicans elsewhere often are very hostile when it comes to immigration, Republicans here passed a very pro-immigration bill. It probably has to do with the fact that because of the increasing number of immigrants, Republicans know they will lose office if they hold on to their old-fashioned beliefs.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-26/news/sns-rt-us-usa-immigration-washingtonstate-20140226_1_financial-aid-state-grants-new-mexico
Remember our discussion of ‘hot beds’ or people living in such crowded conditions that they take turns sleeping on the same bed?
Here are two articles that illuminate this problem.
This article in The Nation profiles a Bangladeshi immigrant in Queens who lives in an illegal cellar room. Apparently half a million New Yorkers live in such illegal cellar dwellings.
This article in New York Magazine profiles a Mexican immigrant who lives with 26 roommates in Manhattan. The photo above comes from that article.
