Update on DREAM Act

Hey everyone,

For those who don't know me I'm Juan Gomez, and I've been a member for almost two years. For those who do know me sorry for the long hiatus, but its time to get things rolling again and I know i can depend on you guys.

First of all, I'm at Georgetown now which means I have the capitol at my disposal. My lawyers and I have been in contact with Durbin and Senator Reid. Today I met with Senator Reid's staff and we had a strategy meeting concerning the DREAM Act.

It was supposed to be reintroduced tomorrow, but events like the AIG have postponed it until Thursday. They were confident that it would be introduced this week though. It will be introduced as a stand alone, but unfortunately they told me that what the Senators are really pushing for is CIR. They are using DREAM as a catalyst for further immigration reform. They want it to encourage the house to revisit CIR over the summer and then hopefully a bill will pass by early fall. The month I got was September.

I know this may be a bit of a blow, but experience has shown us that it was not going to be that easy. They told me that the time to organize is now. Starting with thanking Senator Durbin for introducing the bill. Then concentrated efforts aimed at specific Senators we could sway (they'll tell me which Senators are on the fence). They also thought demonstrations were great if we spaced them out right in the coming months.

One last thing, I'll be meeting Harry Reid soon and they thought it would be a good idea to mention some DREAM students from Nevada. So if anyone here is from Nevada and doesn't mind sending me a short story about their struggles as DREAM students I would appreciate it.

I'll do my best to utilize resources here on the hill.

So im guessing DREAM will most likely be attached to CIR then. I guess when Obama said "we can't do this as a piece meal" he ment DREAM as well. I was really hoping it would get it attached to education reform or as a stand alone but beggers cant be choosers i guess. In any event we still have to work hard for the overall cause.

Glad to hear from you again, juan, and glad you're still here!!

I guess that's good news, but it is a little disappointing knowing that the Senators want the whole thing instead of being more realistic (at least from our point of view; it's all about the sooner the better).

In any case, CIR would be wonderful with DREAM as long as it would pass.

Thanks for the update!

I haven't been paying attention to the news lately... what is the CIR?

comprehensive immigration reform

Thanks for the update Juan, im still lurking here. Was very interested what was going on....Kind of weird that Durbin would introduce Dream, even though it seems he has no plans to pursue it as a stand alone bill... But i guess Reid, and him know the best route to pursue this issue, and i think,they know what they are doing, do the whole thing, starting this time with the House.. I mean McCaskill (Co-Sponsor) is supporting S.9 that tells you something..That's a change of position from her..

wow, juan gomez. i had NO clue you were a member of dap. i'm so glad that you and your brother had an opportunity to stay ...

i'm excited to hear that they'll be introducing the DREAM Act this week! i know it's just an introduction, but it's comforting to know that we haven't been forgotten. although i would prefer to see the DA as a stand alone bill, i wouldn't mind if it was attached to something that would pass.

thank you for letting us know about this awesome update. =]

My guess is that Durbin would love to see it pass as a stand alone, but Senator Reid is the majority leader and can pull any bill out of committee and bring it up for vote. I don't know if he would expedite the process for DREAM.

Welcome back Juan!

Dream can also go through the committee process, but if Dream will be a part of CIR, that means they're going to attach Dream to CIR during the committee process. Sen. Reid did try to pull Dream straight to the floor back in 2007, when it was filibustered, but I'm guessing he wants to try a different strategy this time around.

I know this has been asked before, but whats the point of the dream act if they want to push for CIR ?