Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have just donated $5 million to a scholarship fund that targets undocumented students living in the bay area of San Francisco. The foundation Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are donating to is called TheDream.US and has only been founded in the last few years. TheDream.US has partner colleges all over the United States however this donation will go towards colleges on the west coast.

The aim of the charity is to remove the barrier that stands in the way of undocumented students as they try to get a higher education. Many of these students would have come to the US when they were very young and have grown to love the country they live in.  According to Donald Graham, one of the founders, they are currently able to send 3,000 students to college with a $25,000 scholarship each, the foundation has managed to accumulated over $80 million to date.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife has said that they see it as an investment in the Bay area as their contribution will finance College fees for 400 students over 5 years. They are hoping that by investing in education and helping immigration reform it will help the community and spur progress within the US. Zuckerberg who is an advocate for immigration reform has described it as the “biggest civil rights issue of our time” and many of the other tech leaders in Silicon Valley would agree.

“Without documentation, it’s often a struggle to get a college education, and they don’t have access to any kind of federal aid.”

However while these influential people may push for immigration reform they are still subject to the same obstacles that the politicians in Washington face. Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement on his Facebook page yesterday.