Activist Dulce Matuz says Time honor means more work

Dulce Matuz (r.), president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition and graduate in engineering from Arizona State University is seen at a demonstration earlier this year. EFE/File

April 24th.  Dulce Matuz, president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, told Efe on Tuesday that her inclusion on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people “means more work.”

“I feel it’s a great honor and I am very proud for myself and for my family,” Matuz told Efe during an interview in New York, where she is to attend a gala Tuesday night organized by the magazine in honor of the 2012 Time 100.

Matuz, a 27-year-old native of Hermosillo, Mexico, is right up there in the ranking with such figures as basketball phenom Jeremy Lin, the presidents of Colombia and Brazil, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“This recognition touches me, but it’s an acknowledgment of teamwork,” she said.

Matuz moved to the United States with her parents when she was 15, graduated from high school and with a great deal of sacrifice continued her studies at Arizona State University where she graduated in engineering.

Dulce, the youngest of five siblings, says the recognition from Time “comes with a lot of responsibility and more work. Now everyone is thanking me, but there are people with longer and better records who work more than I do.”

Her struggle is to get the DREAM Act approved to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youths who attend college or enlist in the Armed Forces.

The legislation was passed in the House of Representatives, but remains stalled in the Senate.

“There are battles we lose every day. There are dreamers who are depressed, some who have committed suicide or just can’t go on,” the activist told Efe, adding that though she has taken her degree, she like so many other undocumented young people cannot work in her field.

Matuz said that her selection for the Time 100 will also help her movement create a platform from which they can spread the word to more people and get better known.

“We don’t have much money,” the young woman said while giving assurances that she doesn’t lack “conviction that someday we’re going to win.”

“There are polls showing that most Americans support the DREAM Act,” Matuz said.

Her fight for the rights of undocumented students began in 2007 after an Arizona referendum passed Proposition 300 that makes the undocumented pay foreign-student tuition in community colleges and state universities.

Arizona is at the center of the controversy over illegal immigration in the United States because it has approved some of the toughest laws in the country against the undocumented.

by Agencias