Written by: Khiry Clements/Photo by: Ritsuki Miyazaki

On Wednesday at 7 p.m the College of Arts and Lecture Series hosted an open forum about the DREAM Act.

With a crowd of roughly 100 people, the event was hosted by College of Arts and Sciences and The Department of Modern and Classical Language.

DREAM stands for Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors. The DREAM Act is a bipartisan legislation that would provide a way for immigrants to gain citizenship if eligible, unauthorized young people are brought to the U.S. as children choose to do so.

The DREAM Act brings awareness to immigrant issues.

The program was facilitated by College of Arts and Sciences department head Viki Soady and had speakers for the event including Jerry Gonzalez, founder and executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund, Israel Cortez, the southern region’s migrant director for the State Board of Education and “Rocky” Rawcliffe, immigration attorney at Kuck Immigrations Partners, LLC.

“It is a little known fact that recent changes in Georgia have actually loosened the restrictions on young DREAMers who are in this state and this country because of the decisions made by their parents and families.

Many of them have known no home and no life except what they have experienced in the United States.

“Thousands of young Hispanics are affected by these changes in Georgia alone,” Soady said.

More immigrants have been deported under President Obama’s presidency than any other president, according to the forum.

“President Obama has stated that now that the budget crisis are abated, he will turn once again to the vital issue of immigration reform,” Soady said.

If the act passed, this could add $329-billion to the economy, according to the forum.