Director of Transborder Studies and history professor Matthew Garcia. (Photo by Ana Ramirez)ASU students will speak to the community about their personal struggles as illegal immigrants and they will introduce a new book about DREAMers.
Comparative Border Studies, a strategic research initiative in the The School of Transborder Studies, will host Undocumented and Unafraid Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Turquoise Room 220.
Former UCLA students Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix, the focus of the book, started the movement that led to the DREAM Act, which would give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
Tran and Felix were several of the first illegal immigrants to publically admit their immigration status. Tran went before the U.S. Congress in 2007 to speak in favor of the DREAM Act.
ASU Director of Transborder Studies and history professor Matthew Garcia taught Tran at Brown University.
Tran and Felix became the most accomplished DREAMers in the U.S., Garcia said.
“They rocked the DREAM students’ world,” Garcia said. “They were the first to say ‘Look, we’re here, we’re American.’ Many students compare this to coming out of the closet.”
In May 2010, Tran and Felix were on a research trip to Maine when they were killed by a drunk driver. Garcia said they hoped to experience traditional state food, like lobster, during their first trip to Maine.
The book, "Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, and the Immigration Youth Movement," remembers their lives.
Garcia said Tran’s tale was tragic and heroic.
“It’s harrowing that essentially (Tran) was a citizen of nowhere,” he said.
Tran’s family members fought in the Vietnam War and were “boat people,” or families that lived on boats.
The German Navy rescued her family. At the time, Germany didn’t allow birthright citizenship, unlike America.
Because she was born in Germany, America wouldn’t claim her either, and going back to Vietnam was out of the question.
Second year law student Daniel Rodriguez came from Monterrey, Mexico, when he was 7.
“For the longest time I was doing advocacy (and) there wasn’t a lot of events like this on campus,” Rodriguez said.
He said Thursday’s event will highlight the work DREAM Act advocates have accomplished in Arizona.
Rodriguez, a speaker at the event, is a cofounder of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition.
“ASU is in the perfect position to benefit from this,” he said. “There is no reason for us to not host more events like this.”
Elizabeth Cantu, executive coordinator for Comparative Border Studies, said the event will give a face to the issue.
Illegal immigrant students have a difficult time living fully integrated lives because of their status, she said.
“Having more voices and faces to this issue makes us think more critically,” Cantu said. “It may be a learning experience.”
After Tran’s death, Garcia said his whole life went into trying to push the DREAM Act forward.
When he asked the help of his then-employer, former Brown president Ruth Simmons, to back him when he presented the case to the U.S. Senate in 2010, she declined.
“It was an incredible disappointment in my life,” Garcia said.
Garcia paused for 20 seconds trying to collect his thoughts and to contain his emotions.
“Even though Tam was her student,” he said.
ASU president Michael Crow was the first to back Garcia when he presented the DREAM Act to the U.S. Senate in 2010.
Garcia said Tran will live on through the movement, her brother and all the professors she has touched.
He said he’ll remember that the way she spoke always revealed her Orange County roots.
“She had a voracious appetite and I don’t mean over ideas,” he said. “Over food—usually Mexican food.”
Other speakers at the event will include editors of the book, Fabiola Inzunza, Kent Wong and ASU almuna Reyna Montoya.
Reach the reporter at amrami13@asu.edu
Correction:An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the event's host as the Comparative Border Studies department. Comparative Border Studies is a strategic research initiative in the School of Transborder Studies. The article has been updated to reflect this.
