A panel at the Free Speech Movement Cafe Wednesday evening discussed the history and legislation surrounding the California DREAM Act, focusing on the experience of undocumented immigrants in California.

Panelists included experts on immigration law and Latino policy, including Lisa Garcia Bedolla, chair at the UC Berkeley Center for Latino Policy Research, Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy and Kevin Escudero, a doctoral student in the Department of Ethnic Studies.

“One thing I’ve learned is that change takes time,” Escudero said. “In the meantime, these youths must still find ways to eat, study, find work, travel home during vacations, and basically live life.”

Bedolla described the history leading up to the act, Kohli discussed the political ramifications of the act and other similar pieces of legislation and Escudero focused on undocumented Asians, who constitute a significant portion of the illegal immigrants that enter the United States.

Update to follow.