By Suman Guha Mozumder | For The Jersey Journal
Shovan Alam came to the United States a few years ago hoping for a scholarship vaguely promised to him, he said, by a well-connected Bangladeshi he used to work for.
The scholarship ultimately eluded him, forcing him to take a job at a grocery without any work authorization in the U.S. and postponing his dream of being a post-graduate student in Public Administration.
Moses Peris, on the other hand, was more fortunate.
Despite his and his parents' undocumented status after the Bangladeshi family was denied political asylum, he managed to finish high school in Jersey City and get an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Saint Peter's University last year.
But Peris says his time in the U.S. has been one of complete disconnect with school, socially and academically, as he suffered from a sense of shame.
"I never disclosed my status to my peers, never took part in any college events, nor became part of a club or group,'' he said. "I could not take summer internships because I had to work as a security guard at night and attended college part-time to pay for my tuition. I have been so traumatized all these years.
"You know even now I feel I am like a pariah, a social outcast of sorts, despite embracing American values and culture. Forget my college days; even now people may not accept me as a human being without looking at my immigration status. But there is nothing I can do about returning to Bangladesh from where we had to escape."
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Now, he said, he can only hope and pray that President Obama's executive action will someday help people like him so he can contribute more to the country he has lived for so many years.
That is the reason Saint Peter's University recently announced the opening of the Center for Undocumented Students. The center, the university says, will shed intellectual light on the political and economic realities of immigration in today's world.
TCUS works with community organizations, government agencies, high schools and other Jesuit colleges and universities to create better access to higher education and increase retention rates among undocumented youth and support the academic work of undocumented students.
Eugene J. Cornacchia, president of the university, said in a statement that Saint Peter's has educated immigrant students since it opened in 1872 and will continue and enrich this tradition by welcoming and supporting undocumented students, otherwise known as Dreamers.
"We are proud to be a part of the large group of Jesuit colleges and universities that continue to advocate for Dreamers," he said.
The center, he said, is also creating curriculum and training for faculty, administrators and staff to build institutional support, including guidance on scholarship funding, academics, employment or education after college.
Jennifer Ayala, associate professor of education at Saint Peter's, noted that undocumented students face concerns and challenges not experienced by traditional college students and may have feelings of anxiety, isolation, loneliness or depression.
To provide appropriate support, the university is hosting monthly events featuring immigration lawyers, who will offer pro- bono legal services, and counseling workshops for undocumented students.
Anna Brown, chair of the Department of Political Science and director of the Social Justice Program at the university, focused on the larger picture of the role politics in the immigration reform scenario.
There is constant anxiety among undocumented students about their citizenship status and the threat of deportation, she said.
"There are the damaging effects of a political discourse that constantly categorizes and harshly criminalizes the undocumented and paints them as a drain on public resources,'' she said. "There is the inability to find work or apply for scholarships that might ease the heavy financial burden of higher education and there is the reality of being objectified and tossed around like a political football on the floors of Congress where efforts towards comprehensive immigration reform are stagnating and tend to divide our lawmakers rather than to unify them in work for the common good."
An undocumented student, she said, feels bad about not quite being part of a community and is afraid to reveal his/her real immigration situation to others.
"Young students, who should be focusing all their energies on their studies may well be waylaid or stymied by the force of these external realities bearing down upon them,'' she said. "The purpose of TCUS is to help our students navigate these treacherous immigration water and to provide affirmation and stability in their lives so that they can flourish in an academic environment."