Senate considers act to let immigrants earn legal status

Sens. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., reintroduced a bill Thursday in the Senate that would grant conditional citizenship to eligible undocumented immigrants,
allowing them to pursue a higher education, learn a trade or join the military.

Originally proposed in 2001, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, nicknamed the DREAM Act, is intended to give young immigrants who grew up in the United States the chance to earn legal status.

Companion legislation, titled “The American Dream Act,” was introduced in the House of Representatives.

“Undocumented young people usually arrive with their families and have no understanding of their immigration status,” Lugar said. “They should be encouraged to complete an education and move toward permanent residency.”

To be eligible for the DREAM Act, immigrants must have arrived in the United States at age 15 or younger, graduated high school and displayed “good moral character” during their residency in the United States. Qualified immigrants would receive conditional legal status for six years, during which time they must attend college or serve in the uniformed services for two years to make their legal status permanent.

The DREAM Act also allows states to grant in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants.

“Our immigration laws prevent thousands of young people from fully contributing to our nation’s future,” Durbin said. “These young people have lived in this country for most of their lives. It is the only home they know. They are American in every sense except their technical legal status.”

But opponents worry that the bill encourages and rewards illegal activity. Some even call it amnesty.

“It is an amnesty bill that rewards people who broke the law indirectly through their children,” said Ira Mehlman, communications director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The reason most immigrants come to the United States is to give their families a better life, Mehlman said, but he said he worries the DREAM Act will only encourage more illegal immigration.

But immigrant rights groups like the National Council of La Raza believe the DREAM Act is the only fair way to deal with the approximately 65,000 undocumented
immigrants who graduate from high school each year with no prospect of going to college.

“We applaud the reintroduction of the DREAM Act,” said Laura Vazquez, a spokesperson for National Council of La Raza.

Vazquez said the bill is an investment in a more educated workforce and will allow young immigrants to become full, active participants in the society in which they were raised.

The National Council of La Raza has supported the DREAM Act since its original introduction in 2001 and has set up an action alert system through its Web site to encourage supporters to contact their congressmen in support of the act.

IU senior David Barnhouse said he supported the bill, calling it a “great idea.”

“I think it’s a logical solution,” Barnhouse said. “It would not be practical just to send everybody back.”

Although opponents call the DREAM Act an “amnesty bill,” Lugar and Durbin have been quick to point out that it only applies to immigrants who were brought here as children, have grown up in the United States and were educated in American high schools.

“To cut them off at this point is unrealistic,” said Mark Hayes, a spokesman for Lugar. “They could offer a lot more if they had the opportunity to attend college.”

Hayes emphasized that the DREAM Act is intended to be part of a broader immigration policy. Hayes said Lugar supports a comprehensive package of immigration reform, including increased border security, a temporary worker program and realistic solutions to immigration status.

“We should not punish children for their parents’ mistakes,” Durbin said in a press release. “That is not the American way. The DREAM Act says to these kids, ‘America will give you a chance.  We will give you the opportunity to earn your way to legal status if you work hard and play by the rules.’”