Students gathered in Healy Hall’s Philodemic Room Wednesday for a student-led discussion of the DREAM Act, immigration-related legislation that, if passed into law, will have a significant impact on the lives of undocumented students in the United States, including members of the Georgetown community.

In an event sponsored by the Georgetown University College Democrats, Rev. Charles Currie, S.J., the president of the Jesuit Association of Colleges and Universities, addressed the audience and was joined by Juan Gomez (MSB ’11), an undocumented student whose parents are from Colombia, and Matias Ramos, an immigrant from Argentina and board member of the United We Dream network.

The three speakers advocated for the safe passage of the DREAM Act. The bill would grant undocumented students that arrived in the United States at or before the age of 15 the opportunity to gain conditional residence to attend college or serve in the military for two years, and then gain permanent residence.

“The idea of immigration reform is being discussed in campuses throughout the United States, and appears to be the defining question of this generation,” Ramos said.

Currie spoke of the symbolism behind the name of the legislation.

“As the name recognizes, higher education is essential for achieving the American Dream that immigrants to this nation have sought since the foundation of this nation,” Currie said.

Gomez spoke of the embarrassment he felt as all of his friends applied and were accepted to elite colleges in the United States.

“I realized that the situation had caught up to me,” Gomez said. “I didn’t even have a [driver’s] license, and felt like I had to lie to my friends, so they wouldn’t know I was undocumented.”

Currie provided the perspective of a documented citizen.

“You can read all about detention centers, what happens, but it passes over your conscience,” Currie said. “When you meet people, it becomes so much more real.”

The speakers then acknowledged the difficulty of passing the bill in Congress. Due to the fact that the DREAM Act is most likely to be packaged with comprehensive immigration reform, the legislation is likely to fail due to the current political atmosphere in Washington, they said.

Both Gomez and Ramos informed the audience that they had been given orders of deportation from the government.

“They haven’t carried them out yet, and luckily, our friends in the Senate have passed six-month reprieves, but should anything happen to that, I would have to leave, which is a scary thought,” Gomez said.

Ramos plans to lobby Congress to pass the DREAM Act with the United We Dream network. The United We Dream network sponsored the DREAM Action Week from Feb. 22 to Feb. 27 to raise awareness among Americans.

“This is stage one. There are marches going on in Los Angeles, Chicago and Wisconsin,” Ramos said. “The second stage is a march in D.C., starting on March 10.”

Ramos also spoke of a plan to declare March 10 “Coming Out of the Shadows Day.”

“[People can] show who they really are, to encourage people to reveal their status to the people they know,” Ramos said.

Currie concluded the discussion by warning against a quick fix for the problem.

“Be in this for the long haul. These issues are complex – you have to be willing to stay at it,” Currie said.

GUCD organized the forum as part of its Immigration Week.