YAKIMA, Wash. -- If immigration raids were suspended and undocumented students had access to state financial aid, children of immigrants would be more successful in pursuing a higher education -- at least according to one student at Whitman College.

Ariel Ruiz was one of eight Whitman College students who conducted extensive research for the Walla Walla college's third edition of the "State of the State for Washington Latinos" report.

The results were shared with about 15 community members at Yakima Valley Community College on Wednesday night. The event was offered through YVCC's Diversity Series.

"These are issues that affect everyone in Washington state," said Gilbert Mireles, who oversaw the project through his sociology politics class. "The state benefits from well-educated, well-trained people. Without those tools, we are shortchanging ourselves as a state."

For Ruiz's project, he inter-viewed numerous documented and undocumented Walla Walla High School Latino students and their parents. He wanted to know how Latino students' skills, social networks and cultural backgrounds affect their aspirations and abilities to attend college.

He found that all children of immigrants in his study wanted to go to college but faced numerous financial, political and cultural barriers.

This is why he supports several reforms, including the passage of House Bill 1706, which would make undocumented students eligible for state financial aid. He also wants city,
state and federal govern-ments to work to pass the Dream Act, which would allow certain students who are children of undocumented workers an opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency.

Ruiz said he knows his ideas are controversial, but maintains that his
peers shouldn't be punish-ed for being illegally brought to this country as children. Instead, they
should be helped to become better citizens, so they can make valuable contributions to the country they call home.

"These students have a lot of talent, amazing talent," said Ruiz, a junior sociology major. "The only thing that stops them is a nine-digit number."

The other student researchers studied different topics relating to the Latino community -- from voting rights and education to neighborhood improvement and pros-pects for farm workers.

The overall purpose of their work is to bring local racial barriers to light, thereby empowering communities to organize and advocate for reform, Mireles said.

This has already happened in the Yakima Valley, where the city of Sunnyside changed from at-large to district-by-district City Council elections. The switch was made after one Whitman student's research found the town's electoral system was producing racially polarizing voting patterns.

* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.