DREAM Act

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The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (The "DREAM Act") is a piece of proposed federal legislation that was introduced in the US Senate, and the US House of Representatives in March 26, 2009. This bill would provide certain immigrant students who graduate from US high schools, are of good moral character, arrived in the US as children, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment, the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency. The students will obtain temporary residency for a lapse of six years. Within the six year period, a qualified student must attend college, and earn a two year degree, or serve in the military for two years in order to earn citizenship after the six years period. If student does not comply with either his/her college requirement or military service requirement, temporary residency will be taken away and student will be subjected to deportation.

[edit] Background

Currently, children who immigrate to the United States from another country can only obtain permanent status through their parents; there is no independent method to accomplish this. Some individuals remain without status, despite having parents or spouses who are citizens or legal permanent residents.^[1][2] If a child is brought into the country illegally there is no method of becoming a legal resident. Returning to their country of birth would not guarantee a path to legal status. Attempts to come back legally are often difficult, with roadblocks such as ten year bans on re-entering the U.S.^[3]

Members of Congress have introduced several forms of this bill in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members in the House have not brought the bill to a floor vote as a stand-alone bill; Senators debated a version of the DREAM Act S.2205 on October 24, 2007. The bill required 60 votes to gain cloture by a 52-44 vote, 8 votes short of overcoming a filibuster by senators opposed to the bill.^[4]

The United States military faced challenges in enlistment, which in 2005 were described as a "crisis" by some. ^[5] Immigrants who do not have a "green card" are not technically allowed to enlist (although unlawful exceptions are sometimes made due to enlistment shortfalls). Several senior officials at the Department of Defense have spoken in favor of promising legal status to members of the military as a means of boosting recruitment.^[6]

[edit] Description

According to the 2009 version of the bill^[7], DREAM Act beneficiaries must have:

• Proof of having arrived in the United States before age 16.^[8]
• Proof of residence in the United States for a least five (5) consecutive years since their date of arrival, compliance with Selective Service.^[9]
• Must be between the ages of 12 and 35 at time of bill enactment.
• Having graduated from an American high school, or obtained a GED.
• "Good moral character"

During the first six years, the immigrant would have been granted "conditional" status, and would have been required to graduate from a two-year community college or complete at least two years towards a 4-year degree, or serve two years in the U.S. military. After the six year period, an immigrant who met at least one of these three conditions would have been eligible to apply for legal permanent resident status. During this six year conditional period, immigrants would not have been eligible for federal higher education grants such as Pell grants, though they would have been able to apply for student loans and work study.^[10]

If the immigrant did not meet the educational or military service requirement within the six year time period, their temporary residence would have been revoked and they would be subject to deportation. They also must not commit any crimes other than those considered non-drug related misdemeanors, regardless of whether or not they have already been approved for permanent status at the end of their six years. Being convicted of a major crime, or drug-related infraction would have automatically removed the six year temporary residence status and they would have been subject to deportation.

If the immigrant met all of the conditions at the end of the 6-year conditional period, they would have been granted a permanent residency, which would have eventually allowed them to become U.S. citizens.

An estimated 65,000 immigrant students ^[11] who meet the initial basic requirements graduate from high school each year.^[12] However, it is not known how many of those were eligible go on to complete the further requirements. It is estimated that currently only 7,000–13,000 college students nationally can fulfill the further obligations, a drastic drop from the already limited pool of those initially eligible. ^[13]

[edit] History

A very similar version of the bill, though never called the "DREAM Act", was introduced during the 107th Congress in 2001, as H.R.1918 and S.1291 in the House and Senate respectively. It has been introduced in both the Senate (as the "DREAM Act") and the House (as the "American Dream Act") at various times. In the Senate: S.1545 (108th Congress), S.2075 (109th Congress), S.774 (110th Congress), and S.2205 (110th Congress). In the House: H.R.1684 (108th Congress), H.R.5131 (109th Congress), and H.R.1275 (110th Congress).

The text of the bill was also placed in various other failed immigration-related bills, including the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611) and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348). With the failure of the "comprehensive reform" bills, Richard Durbin, the chief proponent of the DREAM Act in the Senate, made its passage a top priority for 2007.^[14][15]

In September 2007, Richard Durbin filed to place the DREAM Act as an amendment to the 2008 Department of Defense Authorization Bill (S. 2919). However, three key points were commonly cited in opposition to the DREAM Act. First, the misconception that the bill required states to give in-state tuition to the beneficiaries of the DREAM Act when it only removed ambiguity in a state's right to offer in-state to certain immigrant students, states would not have been forced to offer in-state tuition.^[16] Second, the legislation did not include an age cap. Finally, the amendment was regarded by opponents as non-germane to defense matters despite the military provision.

In light of the criticism, Richard Durbin tabled the amendment in favor of a rewritten DREAM Act amendment to the Defense Bill. In consideration of their opponents, all language regarding in-state tuition was removed from the amendment and an age cap of 30 was put in place for potential beneficiaries.^[17] Military leaders embraced the bill, which included the promise of legal status to members of the military, as a means of boosting recruitment.^[18] Nevertheless, the amendment was not brought up for a vote.

On October 18, Richard Durbin,, along with Republican co-sponsors Sen. Charles Hagel and Sen. Richard Lugar, introduced the DREAM Act as S.2205. Though nearly identical to the revised amendment to the Defense Bill, opponents continued to cite previous arguments. In order to bring forth the DREAM Act for debate, a vote was scheduled on October 24 that would require a "filibuster proof" count of 60 yes votes.^{[citation needed]}

Senate opponents cited a variety of reasons for their opposition. Some labeled the DREAM Act as amnesty that would only encourage further illegal immigration. Others stated that the DREAM Act, though worthy legislation, should only be enacted as part of a comprehensive immigration reform. In light of the Senate’s failure to successfully pass a single appropriations bill, some Senators stated that the DREAM Act was a distraction to more pressing matters and should rather be considered in January 2008. Finally, debate emerged as to the amendment process for the DREAM Act, specifically, how willing the Democratic leadership would be in allowing debate of Republican amendments.

In a surprise move, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who had previously stated that she would oppose consideration of the DREAM Act, announced on the Senate floor that she had expressed reservations to Sen. Durbin and he had made a verbal commitment to work with her to make changes that she saw necessary to garner greater Republican support. In response, Sen. Durbin announced that the first amendment that would be considered, should debate of the DREAM Act begin, would completely re-write the bill in favor of the language that Sen. Hutchison suggested. According to her suggestions, students should be allowed to hold a temporary student visa with a renewable work permit instead of conditional permanent residency. Although 52 Senators voted in favor of considering the DREAM Act, this fell eight votes short to break filibuster and the legislation was not considered.^[19]

[edit] 2007 debate

On Wednesday October 24, 2007 The Senate rejected an attempt to begin a debate on The DREAM Act that would have allowed young immigrant students to receive the opportunity to pursuit for higher education and fix their current immigration status. The DREAM Act obtained 52 votes in favor, eight votes short of the 60 needed to defeat a filibuster.^[20]

[edit] Current status

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

The Dream Act was re-introduced in both chambers of congress on Thursday, March 26, 2009. Introducing the bill were Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Harry Reid (D-NV), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), and Russel D. Feingold (D-WI)^[21] and U.S. Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA). To date, 37 representatives^[22] and 20 senators ^[23] have co-sponsored the bill. Reform of the H1B visa program is currently of high priority because its cap of 65,000 annual visas is considered by many as being too low. Furthermore, advocates of the DREAM Act have begun discussion of combining the DREAM Act with AgJOBS (Agricultural job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act) and border enforcement legislation.^{[citation needed]}

The latest version of the bill introduced on March 26, 2009, has the following requirements:

• Have arrived here at the age of 15 or under; (note the change from 16 to 15, age is the same as previously but it is stated in different wording)
• Have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years;
• Graduate from high school;
• Serve in the military or attend college for at least two years; and
• Have good moral character

[edit] Related videos

• Border Stories: Born and Raised (video)

[edit] External links

• DREAM Act Portal - The largest community of undocumented students
• Information from Library of Congress
• DREAM Act Endorsers in 2005
• Economic Benefits of The DREAM Act
• United We DREAM Coalition

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/23/8216my-life-is-here8217/
2. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/20/national/main2956093.shtml
3. ^ http://www.aa-law.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150
4. ^ U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote
5. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1499164,00.html "US lowers standards in army numbers crisis"
6. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119034142441734839.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Wall Street Journal "Bill Offers U.S. Citizenship for Military Service"
7. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111OazjGv:e1560:
8. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111OazjGv:e1560:
9. ^ http://careers.findlaw.com/firmsite/attachments/LE6_c_checklist_WhatIsGoodMoralCharacter.pdf What is Good Moral Character?"
10. ^ "DREAM opportunities". Bangor Daily News: pp. 6. 2007-10-09. ISSN 08928738. http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.lapl.org/pqdweb?did=1361027251&Fmt=7&clientId=13322&RQT=309&VName=PQD. Retrieved on 2009-04-03. 
11. ^ http://www.labor.ucla.edu/publications/reports/Undocumented-Students.pdf
12. ^ http://www.nclr.org/content/policy/detail/1331/
13. ^ http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/DREAM_Demographics.pdf
14. ^ Spuriell, Stephen (2007-07-10). "Death Knell for Immigration?". The Corner (National Review Online). http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmMxMDY4NWY3OWMyNzIxYTliNzI2NWUzYzE5ZGRhM2E=. Retrieved on 2007-07-19. 
15. ^ Maze, Rick (2007-07-16). "Bill would grant citizenship for service". Army Times. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/07/military_servicecitizenship_070716w/. Retrieved on 2007-07-19. 
16. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN2205:
17. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN2205:
18. ^ Montgomery, Dave (2007-10-23). "Senate to vote on whether to take up limited immigration bill". Knight Ridder Tribune News Service: 1. http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.lapl.org/pqdweb?did=1370680151&Fmt=7&clientId=13322&RQT=309&VName=PQD. Retrieved on 2009-04-03. 
19. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN2205:
20. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN2205:
21. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r111:36:./temp/~r111AL5SAf::
22. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR01751:@@@P
23. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SN00729:@@@P