A thousand undocumented immigrant high school graduates are the fortunate recipients of a $33 million scholarship fund courtesy of Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO.
Along with Mackenzie Bezos, his wife, the couple donated the money to TheDream.US, a nonprofit group that likes to call its beneficiaries sent to college as Dreamers. According to reports, there are close to 3,000 individuals that are now in college courtesy of the scholarships being funded by other technology bigwigs.
Personalities such as Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Pierre and Pam Omidyar are just some of the notable benefactors.
Honoring Family History
Jeff Bezos reportedly wanted to honor his adoptive father, Miguel Bezos, who was an immigrant himself. He apparently moved to the United States from Cuba at the age of 16.
"My dad came to the U.S. when he was 16 as part of Operation Pedro Pan," shared the Businessman. "He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English. With a lot of grit and determination - and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware - my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country he feels blessed him in so many ways."
Fighting For Immigrants' Rights
Several reports also document Jeff Bezos' attempts to urge the government to reinstate laws to protect the Dreamers, the undocumented immigrants whose college education is being sponsored by the nonprofit group.
The Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) is a government program that is on its way out after a controversial decision of the Trump administration last year. Now, Congress is reportedly in conflict as to what should be the government's course of action once the Dreamers are no longer protected from deportation.
Individuals who qualify are children who were brought into the country illegally before 2007 and were under the age 16 at that time. Additionally, applicants for the program should not have any serious criminal records.
Bezos, along with other executives, signed an open letter to President Trump asking the legislators to draft a law for the protection of those affected.
The World's Wealthiest
Political analysts have noted that Jeff Bezos, currently the world's richest man, announced his donation at a critical time wherein Congress and the Trump administration are at odds regarding DACA. Nevertheless, the $33 million charity donation from the couple is certainly considered a big help for the nonprofit group in order to send another group of Dreamers to college.
