Senate Reviving Dream Act
Written by Sam on September 19th, 2007The central conflict that tripped up the comprehensive bill remains the question of whether illegal immigrants should be given the chance to earn legal status. That question will be an issue in at least two of the measures headed for the Senate.The first to come up is expected to be the “Dream Act,” a bill championed by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) that would give conditional legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age.To qualify under it, they must have been in the country for at least five years, have a high school diploma and meet other requirements. Over the next six years, they would have to spend two years in college or the military, after which they could become legal permanent residents, a step toward citizenship.
Durbin plans to attach the bill as an amendment to a defense funding measure scheduled to come before the Senate today, his staff said.
The bill has broad support, prompting immigration restrictionist groups to send alerts warning that the Senate was planning “to pass an amnesty act by hiding language in the defense authorization bill.”
So, here we go again with another amnesty bill in disguise. For one, I am getting really sick and tired of this practice in Congress to attach amendments to bills which have nothing to do whatsoever with the amendment. That needs to stop. Furthermore, what this article leaves out, whether intentionally or not, is that the Dream Act will allow colleges to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students. So all of you who went to a university outside your home state and paid the out of state tuition, which usually is at least double the in state rate, keep in mind that you would have been better off sneaking into the country illegally and getting a tuition break for it under this provision.
“The illegal alien who applies for this amnesty is immediately rewarded with ‘conditional’ lawful permanent resident (green card) status, which can be converted to a non-conditional green card in short order,” Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, noted in a Heritage Foundation paper. “The alien can then use his newly acquired status to seek green cards for his parents who brought him in illegally in the first place. In this way, it is a backdoor amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who brought their children to the United States.”
The DREAM Act would repeal a 1996 law — the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act — which included a provision barring any state from offering discounted tuition to illegals unless it provided the same tuition discount to all U.S. citizens.
20
AM
Attaching irrelevant amendments to bills? Like when the Republicans held the minimum wage increase hostage by bundling it together with a repeal of the estate tax?
20
AM
Hey Publius, are you for the bill or against it? Stop deflecting.
20
AM
personally i have no problem with this provision. it just recognizes the fact some entered the country illegally when they were extremely young, and thereby did nothing wrong. (when the last time a two year old told you the need to repect border laws) and these kids grow up in US, and face the choice of living life as illegal there entire lifes or go back to a country they really don’t know at all. so sure if they prove there productive in the US let them stay.
20
AM
Publius, conservatives will argue that Republicans held the repeal of the estate tax hostage by attaching it to the minimum wage hike (and thus many conservatives in the House voted against the bill)… all depends on your perspective. Politicians playing politics with bills, surprise!
20
PM
Wrong information….the only way to get in state tuition at any college is if you have been a resdient in that state for many years….So if someone chooses to go to school out of state then he will be charged out of state tuition….same rule applies to all illegal or not. This only means that they will be charged in state tuition if they go to college in their home state. Currently if an immigrant goes to college in his or her home state he is charged out of state resident tuition. People do some research.
20
PM
No Dave, I don’t have the wrong information. It’s you who is debating the wrong argument. Everything I said is factual about the bill. Illegal aliens will qualify for in-state tuition. Yes, it’s the state they are living in. I never said otherwise. The problem with your argument is that illegal aliens don’t have a “home state” because they are ILLEGAL. They are not a citizen of the country. That’s why by Federal law states are prohibited to allow them instate tuition rates, even though a handful go against the Federal policy anyway. This would allow all states to grant them instate tuition if they are in their state ILLEGALLY without any penalties from the Fed, not that they punish any of the states for it anyway.
So, before you instruct me to do some research, you might want to read more carefully and not extrapolate my words because you can’t understand what’s written on the screen.
20
PM
Jim,
Any illegal can make the claim that they were brought here before they were 16. That is the age cut off. There are not required to provide proof whether they were or not. They just have to sign an oath stating that was the case. There is also no age limit as to when they can step forward. Any of them can be 30, 40, or 50 years old and claim that they were brought before they were 16. This is another back door amnesty attempt by Congress.
21
AM
Sam,
it is not the case that any illegal can claim and promise that they entered here before the age of 16. They have to provide physical evidence of it and the USCIS goes through rigorous efforts to validate the case. Anyone familiar with the USCIS’ practices will know that they are incredibly stringent and the Act, if passed, would only provide asylum to the people explicitily stated.
For more information on the people affected by the dream act see this article published by the immigration policy center:
http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/ipc_AccessToHigherEd_2007-09-19.pdf
Oh and by the way, I personally am an immigrant and would be eligible for the dream act. As you can see by my rhetoric, I meld into American culture and contribute to it just like any other natural born citizen might.
22
AM
Sam(obviously),
I respect the fact that you are all about the law but when you’re a one year old toddler what can you do when your parents bring you here illegally? What exactly can you do when you are of age and learn that you can’t pursue a higher education because you’re illegal? put yourself in any of these peoples places and you aren’t going to like it because luckily you were born here or are at least legal. You also said, “illegal aliens don’t have a “home state” because they are ILLEGAL,” but what exactly do you consider a home state? Can kids who grow up in the US consider their home a country they don’t even know? Think about it.
23
PM
I fully understand your point, but that is something that their parents should have thought about before they illegally snuck into the country.
24
PM
Illegal immigrants sneak their foreign-born children into the United States. That sets the kids up for a difficult time. But their parents did it to them, not the United States citizens nor the US government.
These kids need to be rounded up and deported just like everyone else who is here illegally.
They can ask their parents why they made them into people without a country.
25
PM
Sam, I completely understand your beliefs when it comes to illegal aliens. I feel the same way. I wish there wasn’t any and I wish the immigration system was one that would properly function. Just like James, I’m also another immigrant that would gain my well deserved residency that the Dream Act would hopefully give me. I came here illegally without any say from Peru, I was 6 years old. Of course it was the parents decision to do so. It was a fixed visa, but when I arrived here, we applied for political asylum because there was a lot of terrorism going on in my home country at the time. We were granted it, and I have all my legal papers, social, work permit, etc. I pay taxes just like everyone else. I’ve gone through high school and will start college next year. I wish my parents wouldve done things different with me and my siblings but my parents were desparate and you can’t speak if you’re not a parent yourself. You want the best for your kids no matter what the risk, and this is the risk. I hate the fact that I cant fly out of the country to visit anywhere in the world or that I can’t vote and that I have pay every year to renew my work permit. It’s easy to say ‘just kick all the illegal kids out” when you’re NOT one of those kids. You dont know what its like and you never will until youre in someone else’s shoes. I’m going to try my hardest to help spread awareness of the dream act, because there are thousands like me that don’t deserve not being US residents or citizens. I’ve paid my dues just like everyone else has and I consider myself an American. I just wish the United States will soon someday consider me that as well. I simply wish I couldve just been born here. I hate the situation more than you know Sam.
25
PM
Bob, if you were granted asylum then the U.S. government allowed you to legally stay here, from what it sounds like to me, so I’m not entirely sure you are what we are talking about. They know you’re here and contributing to the system. It doesn’t appear that you are here illegally.
26
AM
The problem is that it was a fixed visa, which I came here with. The government didn’t notice, and then I was granted political asylum. So I came here illegally technically without any say. That’s the problem that I’ve had all my life. That’s why I support the DREAM Act so much and why it means the world to me.
26
PM
The larger problem with this whole issue is that when something is technically illegal but flagrantly not enforced for a long period of time, a reasonable person could consider it to be de facto legal at that point.
Say your town had a law barring people from walking on the right-hand side of the sidewalk on Thursdays, but they never enforced it. All of a sudden, the judge decides to execute you for it. You would think that was pretty unfair, no?
By making it so obvious that they had no intention of enforcing the law for so long, the government effectively made undocumented immigration legal. We can argue about the merits of enforcing the border from now on, but to penalize people who came here thinking that the law was essentially not in effect is unfair.
26
PM
Publius, you’re on to something, which I have talked about before. That is, I think most Americans, and most conservatives, would tolerate some sort of amnesty (without guaranteed citizenship, without anchor babies, without giving away our Treasury of entitlements to illegal aliens) for those who are currently here illegally (meaning to forgive their crime of entering here illegally, and maybe more, but only that being guaranteed) given that the Federal government actually enforces the border and fixes the problem now and prevents further invasion. For the people here now, as an Economics student, I can completely understand why they’re here - they saw an opportunity to come here while the government apparently didn’t care, and as any rational person would do, they followed their personal self-interest. That doesn’t mean I’m in favor of giving them citizenship (they did break the law, after all), but it does mean that given we stop the flow of illegals now I’m not opposed to giving those already here some kind of break in the future.
28
PM
We did the amnesty thing with R.R. as president. It failed because our government failed to enforce the laws on the books. To believe “but this time we mean it” is just STUPID. Spend the money that would have went to illegal entitlement programs to deport them. If the LAWS were enforced and people were getting deported (and identified during that process) many would leave on their own with hopes to come here legally.
28
PM
ok.. what about if I came here when I was 16? could I quilify for the DREAM Act?… Im attending College right now.. I passed my GED.. so what about me?…..
24
PM
Mom and Dad were criminals, so baby should benefit? Sorry, that’s crazy thinking. The parents did this and the ball is in their court. They chose the life of an illegal alien for their kids. Besides, when the family’s anchor babies reach 18, everyone gets citizenship because the little anchor will sponsor them.
10
PM
I am a US citizen, my fiance was brought here illegaly when he was 9 years old and he barely remembers his home country. What many people don’t realize is that this affects US citizens as well. What happens when we get married, have kids, all the stuff in life that other families get to do, we won’t be able to. He can’t get a job so I would be the sole supporter for our famliy. We won’t be able to go on family vacations that involve international travel. He can’t drive so what if there’s an emergency. Think of how it affects all the US citizens who want to make a like with someone who was brought here illegaly as a child.
10
PM
I came to the U. S when I was 16. Could I qualify for the Dream Act?