Hispanic students have a DREAM

Friday, Aug. 22, 2003 | 9:49 a.m.

A group of about 40 Hispanic college students in the Las Vegas Valley will begin a four-week campaign at local supermarkets Saturday in support of a Senate bill to help high school graduates who are undocumented immigrants.

The bill, called the DREAM Act, was introduced late last month and will be taken up by the Senate this fall. It would allow high school graduates who have lived in a state for at least five years and meet other requirements to pay in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities and become legal residents of the United States.

The group, Student Organization of Latinos, will be putting members of the public in touch via cell phone with Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., to show support for the bill, according to the group's leader, Chelsie Campbell.

Reid's office said the senator will be co-signing the bill in the coming weeks.

"Senator Reid is tremendously supportive of the bill and feels these students -- who are often here because of a decision their parents made -- should be able to go to college," said Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Reid. Ensign's office did not respond to calls from the Sun.

During four consecutive Saturdays, the group also will be surveying thousands of Hispanics in the valley at area branches of the King Ranch supermarkets to get an idea of how many families might benefit from the act -- information that is difficult to come by in the immigrant community, Campbell said.