Mark Zuckerberg donates $5 million to undocumented students
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced that he and his wife donated $5 million to a college scholarship fund for 400 students in the Bay Area born outside of the United States.
w/ a $5 million donation to a scholarship for undocumented students, Mark Zuckerberg made a strong statement: https://t.co/Qe92DADU4Y
— Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) June 17, 2015
The money was donated to TheDream.US in an effort to aid the group in its mission to help undocumented students pay for formal education. Because these students are not United States citizens, they cannot enroll in student loan programs. Therefore, Zuckerberg is helping these students acquire the same opportunities that students born within the United States have. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg wrote:
"Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants are part of our communities and attend school legally in the United States. Many of them moved to America early in their lives and can't remember living anywhere else. They want to remain in the country they love and be a part of America's future. But without documentation, it's often a struggle to get a college education, and they don't have access to any kind of federal aid."
Zuckerberg's post did not stop there. He continued by writing:
"America was founded as a nation of immigrants. We ought to welcome smart and hardworking young people from every nation, and to help everyone in our society achieve their full potential. If we help more young immigrants climb the ladder to new opportunities, then our country will make greater progress."
His announcement is likely a response to the launch of TheDream.US's "I'm In" campaign. The campaign was orchestrated as an effort to reach out to America's wealthiest people to gain funding.
Zuckerberg has been known to advocate for immigration issues, so this donation comes as no surprise. In 2013, he co-founded FWD.US, which aims to encourage immigration reform in Congress.
We already knew that Zuckerberg has a soft spot for underprivileged youth in the Bay Area. Watch this video to learn about the $120 million donation he made to Bay Area public schools last year:
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