The DREAM Act
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-12-07/dream-act
Immigrant advocacy groups have organized protests, hunger strikes and prayer vigils across the United States to rally support for the DREAM Act. The immigration bill offers a path to citizenship for young adults brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Among the requirements for achieving legal status would be two years of college or military service. Congress is expected to take up the DREAM Act this week. Critics argue it would reward – and even encourage – illegal immigration. Supporters say it's a fair way to deal with a problem affecting about two million young people through no fault of their own.
Guests
Angela Kelley
vice president for immigration policy and advocacy, Center for American Progress.
Suzanne Gamboa
immigration reporter, the Associated Press.
Steven Camarota
director of research, Center for Immigration Studies.
Lucy Martinez
sophomore at University of Texas, San Antonio; she's on a hunger strike to raise support for the DREAM Act.
Comments
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I pray that they pass this bill, as human biengs how can we deny These kids that where brought here without any fault of their own the right to live a normal life and succeed, they know no other history but the American history, they speak more english then their native language, we have invested on their education why stop now? I don't believe they should be the one's to pay the price for their parents mistakes. Remember your talking about kids here. GIVE THEM THIER DREAM THE AMERICAN DREAM.
Let me be your doctor, let me be your teacher, let me be your lawyer, let me be your soldier, let me be your friend, just let me be.......Please support the dream act!
The DREAM Act is flawed. If its intention is to help innocent children and NOT their parents who willfully broke the law, then the Act should carve out the right that U.S. citizen children have to legally immigrate their parents. If the Act included such an exception, then only the children would benefit as they would not -- once they become U.S. citizens -- be able to provide the same benefit to their parents who DID break the law.
Another flaw in the law: the education requirement is only for two years and to an open-admissions institution. That's a low bar. If the intent of the law is genuinely to reward good students -- the poster child of the Act tends to be some Harvard wunderkind -- why not require that students graduate from a four-year, limited-admissions institution before getting their green cards?
Third flaw: even the weak education requirement has an exception for "hardship." So what prevents a beneficiary from enrolling in an open-enrollment institution, claiming "hardship," and retaining the benefit? Those who say that such hardship would have to be "proved" do not know our weak immigration system well.
But the key flaw in this law -- and what makes it unacceptable -- is that it rewards law-breaking parents through the benefit that their children, once naturalized, can provide them. If this single provision were changed, I (and many others) would be more supportive.
Otherwise, the DREAM Act is just amnesty for lawbreakers by another name.
How are students enrolling in colleges and universities without a Social Security number? If I remember correctly, I was required to provide a SSN to even apply to a public university & community college in Texas. Is that not the same for all universities and colleges? Thanks! RH
My two sisters came to the U.S. when they where 3 yrs old. They have lived here ever since. They are in college now, but they cannot get any scholarships and will not be able to use their degree once they are finish. The dream act will give the U.S. many educated individulas that can help the country move forward. Another example, my older sister is a resident now, but she had a nursing degree from a good school and was not able to work for yrs b/c she cold not. Please make the Dream Act happen.
If an illegal immigrant has received a free, american-education, is not that skilled person in the best position to return back to their country to make it a better place? Why do proponents of the dream act assume that an immigrant returning to their own country is such a horrible thing?
I fully support this bill, and as a conservative, I find it incredibly frustrating that Republicans are predominately in opposition. They alienated Irish-Americans for 3 generations due to their stance on immigration at the beginning of the 20th century. Now they seem on course to alienate Latino- Americans due to their stance on the Dream Act.
I teach at a community college and strongly support this Act. As a general rule, the many immigrant students I have in my classes are the hardest working, most diligent students there. Many times I have wished my native born students were willing to work as hard!
Yes -- DREAM Act is a great deal (if you're a community college).
These illegal immigrants have already received a free american education. Are not these ambitious individuals in the best position to return home to help their own country?
Your estimate of 1 million possible beneficiaries is high. The percentage of kids who can get into college or the military is low.
I want to thank you for discussing the Dream Act there are a lot of us who because of the broken immigration system would have qualified with our parents to adjust our status but we turned 21 and now have to wait God knows how many yrs for USCIS to get to our petitions. In my family I am the only one not legally here because I turned 21 before my petition from both parents who are legal residents wasn't reviewed now I am a college graduate thanks to my parents that paid my college tuition without financial aid from anyone but I can't work because if my status. I wish people would understand that not everyone us trying to get a free ride there are those of us that unfortunately got held up in the beauracracies of the immigration system and are now left out. Our only way is the Dream Act or wait 20 to 30 for our petitions to get approved.
I'm appalled that we would think it was not a good idea for these would be citizens to sponsor their parents....This would be an opportunity for people to come into the country the right way. Why would we want to continue to encourage illegal actions and not give the opportunity to act within the law?
To Lucy,
With an education your talents are useful anywhere in the world even outside the US. Take your education and make it work for you and your community wherever you go!
How are illegal immigrants getting a "free" education? From what I saw at my Texas public university, those students whose parents immigrated illegally were working a couple jobs and taking out loans. That sounds exactly like what I did to get through college - should I say I got a free American education?
I believe that people fear that they shouldn't return to their own country because they should help this country. Plus it's not that going to the country of their parents is bad but this Act is for students who grew up in the USA meaning THIS is their home. Why would they go back to a land they do not know?
I have worked with immigrants for 35 years in Fort Wayne, IN , welcoming peoples from 30 nations and working with many others. Most are legal permanent residents.
The Dream Act is worthy and would help strengthen our nation with the efforts of these hardworking children.
However, I am very concerned that those immigrated legally not lose their "place in line" in this and other immigrant discussions.
I believe a "path toward RESIDENCY" is the only proper goal for this act.
Citizenship should not be used in this discussion.
Please state who in Congress is sponsoring this bill. I understand that Sen. Richard Lugar is one of the sponsors. Why won't Republicans listen to this elder and wise statesman?
I am a lawyer, who had the pleasure of representing a man who had been arrested and charged with a felony. His concern was not the outcome, guilt or innocence, of his case: he was in a panic over the potential that he would be deported to Colombia, the country where he was born, from the United States, where he had been brought as an infant by his parents (who were legal entrants to the US, and are now citizens). His parents had assumed that their citizenship covered him, since he was a minor when they obtained citizenship. He grew up in the Boston area (his father studied at MIT, his younger sister a US citizen by virtue of having been born in the US), went to high school there, and became a tradesman. He did not even speak Spanish, and knew no one in Colombia.
The desperation he felt over the outcome of a fairly run-of-the-mill case was sad to see. I never was able to try for him, because he was hit by a car and killed before his trial started. He is now buried in the American soil he treasured so much.
I think of him when I hear the debate over the DREAM Act. It likely would not have helped him (since he had been working and paying taxes since he was a teenager, not the sort to head to college or the military), but it's difficult for me to see the Act as anything other than a belated apology to someone who suffered so much at the thought of being deported.
Sadly, I must oppose this proposal. I am appalled that we have not been able to establish a reasonable guest worker program, but am greatly angered by parents who unwisely bring children into this country illegally.
We would reward these parents enormously if we provide American citizenship to their children. One of your speakers suggests that the proposal might even ease the parents’ way to citizenship.
Citizenship in the United States is indeed a treasure and many seek it legally. We should not simply grant it to someone who is placed here illegally. It may be harder for young people to make a life in the place of their birth, but Mexico is a fine land, certainly not a dungeon such as Cuba or North Korea.
Too many Mexicans choose to come here illegally on the assumption that they will someday be granted citizenship. I applaud their love of the United States but I cannot sanction their criminal action.
Chuck Strehl
as a single working mom with 2 kids who pays taxes who will help me send my kids to school shouldn't then we get a free ride to college? I had to get a job and go to school at night to pay no one helped me nor ar they are going to help with my kids. This is just absurd
Our immigration policy is outdated and two-faced. Many get upset that migrants enter illegally, but when Mexican migrants apply for visas they are told that there aren't any this year, and they'll have to wait for over 12 years. How many businesses want to wait 12 years to fill a job? Visa-issuance should be triggered by the creation of jobs, and not restricted by country limits, visa category quotas, and annual limits. If we issued just 250,000 more visas per year, the amnesty in 1987 would not have occurred.
I fully understand the "Dream Act" and its merits. But what about the "Bad Dream Act" that our own young adults face given grossly over priced education, no accountability in terms of job placement by such institutions and debt burdens cooked up by Higher Learning Institutions and Sallie Mae that will in many cases burden these students and their families for the rest of their lives. Lets not fool ourselves the impact on the economic, social and security of our country will be immense! This discussion is the equivalent of watching someone else's baby while your baby drowns!!!!
Timothy P. Burns
Solon, Ohio
I hope this bill is passed. We have a very unfair immigration policy that disadvantages people from non European countries. The immigration quota from Mexico is very low. However, we have often had immigration policies that allow immigrants from Mexico to come and work as long as needed and then are returned back to their own country with no credit toward legal residency.
Also we need to recognize that people from other countries are the ones who have more children and are going to balance out the imbalance between young working people and retirees.
I think we also need to recognize that most people who are here without papers do not commit violent crimes and do their best to stay under the radar. These people are often some of the most exploited people in this country.
While I believe that the proposed solution of giving "green cards" to illegal immigrants who go to college or serve in the military (brief summary here), it's my understanging that we need immigrants to do low level jobs, such as picking crops. This procedure would not recognize that.
The Dream Act should be called the Pipe Dream Act. Not only does it only provide Green Card status, but it only provides a real benefit for the best and the brightest--average kids need not apply unless they want to join the military.
It requires the immigrant to go to either a 4 year college program or a two year program that leads to a 4 year program excluding those who want to be practical nurses and electricians. It ignores the fact that fewer than 30% of Latinos ever go to college and the harsh reality that more than 80% of First Generation College low-income students flunk or drop out--the majority in the first two years.
For the rest there is the military which rather than 2 years requires minimum contract of 8 years and the Dream Act provides no protection for those who are discharge prior to the end of the 2 years -- even if because of battle wounds.
Many men and women who have honorably served in our U.S. Military are already being deported for lack of citizenship. What a great deal!
Does the Dream Act cover people from all nations such as Africa, Middle East, and Europe?
Does the Dream Act cover all nationalities, such as Africans, Middle Easterns, East Indians and Europeans
Americans are losing their homes, have been for years now. They are losing their jobs and/or are living from paycheck to paycheck. When we have people willing to work, who cannot find a job, living in their cars or in shelters, why are we even having this discussion??!! I understand the plight of illegal immigrants, and know several myself. I understand they want a better future for their families. But at the expense of Americans born and living here now? I don' think so. Fix this country first! Then allow the ones here to apply for citizenship just like all of our ancestors did (mine came through Ellis Island). Learn English and become a part of this country. Taxes, problems, politics and all.
Does anyone ever think of the illegals as refuges instead? Does anyone realize the life they are trying to escape from. Why do they risk their lives to sneak across the border to work at a low end job? They should come here legally? It is impossible for this class of people. Where are our "Christian Values"
In 1974 when I was finishing up my college B.A., I met a young man from Greece who told me that he had received US citizenship after volunteering for military service, which he did. I was at that time a green-card holder and in 1979,m I became a nuturalized US citzen.
My stand is that we should avoid any form of justice that requries a penalty.
Thank you for you show.
Robert Gordon Donaldson
Brunswick, Maine
When will we recognize that we need the immigrants? The EU countries are actively recruiting citizens because their aging population cannot support the social services. Legal immigrants will revitalize our Social Security system. Our policies should recognize that the greatest myth of this debate is the presumption that immigration should be deterred, not encouraged.
Barbara from Michigan