http://www2.dailynews.com/news/ci_7009388

Getting a Senate vote on the "Dream Act" bill granting illegal immigrant students a shot at legalization is becoming a nightmare for supporters, who said this week they have been besieged by angry faxes and phone calls.

Activists said illegal immigration hard-liners have mobilized against the bill. A vote that had been tentatively scheduled for last week was forced off the table, and now advocates said the bill might not see the light of day until next week.

"We still have a good chance of getting a vote, but opponents have made it very clear they will use any and every tool at their disposal," said Josh Bernstein, federal policy director for the National Immigration Law Center.

The act would give students who were brought to the United States before the age of 16 conditional residency if they graduate from high school, have no criminal history and either enlist in the U.S. military or complete at least two years of college.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the bill's prime sponsor, aimed to attach it as an amendment to a defense bill the Senate is now debating. His spokeswoman Sandra Abrevaya said the lawmakers are still negotiating for time and haven't given up hope.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a strong supporter of the bill, reported receiving 4,000 phone calls about the Dream Act since Sept. 13. Her spokesman Scott Gerber said about 239 calls were in favor of the bill, and 3,805 opposed.
Dario Cafuentes, a produce broker in San Diego, said he is among those trying to derail the bill. Born in the U.S. - Cafuentes said his father was a U.S. citizen and his mother was from Central America and obtained her citizenship through marriage - Cafuentes said he feels the Dream Act is unfair to citizens.

"The uneducated are coming in from Mexico by the millions," he said. "They're making it difficult for the law-abiding people to get in, but they're making it easier for illegals."

Mariann Davies, spokeswoman for an organization called Don't Speak for Me, a group of Hispanic immigrants who also are hard-liners on illegal immigration, called the Dream Act unfair to millions of Hispanic families in the U.S. who came here legally.

"I don't think there should be any (university) space taken up by someone who is here illegally. It's a space denied to an American or someone who is here legally who could have gone."

But Durbin and other supporters say it's the current law that is unfair, and argue that punishing children for the actions their parents took is un-American.

"For many of these kids, it's the only home they really know. They are fully assimilated into American society," Durbin argued. "They really don't want much more than to just be Americans and have a chance to succeed."

According to the Migration Policy Institute,a nonpartisan think tank, the act would immediately make about 360,000 young people - ages 18 to 24 - eligible for conditional legal status.

The legislation could also make 715,000 undocumented children, between the ages of 5 to 17, eligible for legal status.

Edith Gurrola, a graduate of California State University, Northridge, helped start a support group for undocumented students last year at CSUN after volunteering at Monroe High School.

She said high schoolers would come to her stressed by their uncertain legal status.

"They would come to me frustrated and confused about their future," Gurrola said.

Gurrola, who is now pursuing a degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says more focus should be on the students.

"They're like everybody else," Gurrola said. "They may face more struggles but their drive, their motivation is the same."

Lorena Navarro, a 23-year-old psychology senior at CSUN, said she would gladly give up her seat in a class, or a scholarship, to an undocumented student if they deserved it.

"There are so many kids who don't take advantage of the privilege of being a citizen or a resident," Navarro said. "If this country is based on what you do, your merit, I don't understand why we are telling these students that they can't have their American dream."


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