Students Without Borders 

For those unaware of who undocumented students are, they are immigrants brought to America as children. They have families like us and are an integral part of our communities. Rio Hondo has established a club that supports these undocumented students financially and educates them on the legal spectrum. I spoke with Helen who is the Vice President of Students without Borders Club. I asked her what is her purpose here as Vice President of the club, Helen replied, 

“We are students without borders and we advocate for undocumented students. To join the club you don’t necessarily have to be undocumented or documented, but you can be an ally. Allies are very important to us especially with the upcoming election, because they are the ones who have the power to go out there and vote for us. Since undocumented students can not actually vote yet . So we advocate for undocumented students. We try to provide as many resources. We also try to refer them to whatever resources that are necessary for them.

 In some of the events that we host we bring out lawyers that provide them with more information. If they can they will help them in any of their cases or anything like that. So they have legal support and we also try to raise funds for scholarships. Here at Rio Hondo we have scholarships for undocumented students but sometimes they are not enough. We try to provide them on our own through the clubs funds. We hosted a 5k run where you sign up and provided a fee of about ten to fifteen dollars depending how early you signed up. With that money that we raised it went to scholarships that we provided for the undocumented students.” 

Together We Dream

Most of these students are very similar to students on campus. They continue to contribute, struggle and thrive in our communities as they pursue their dreams. I am a grandchild of immigrants and I can relate to those who are aware of what our immigrant grandparents or other family members sacrificed for an opportunity of success. Undocumented students are like me in that they have been led to believe that their human rights would always be protected in this country.They are apart of our communities. We share the same vision of a diverse and welcoming Nation.

As allies we should stand up for these undocumented scholars. Not only for their human rights ,but spotlight their positive contributions to our lives and their academic success. As humans we should be obligated to share this country with those who want it to succeed just as much as the next citizen. So for those who share this vision and are interested, I’d advise you to look up more information and join. Please contact SWB President Carmen Mendoza for more information, [email protected].