DREAM Act Portal Forum - DREAM Act reintroduced as stand-alone bill

LOS ANGELES—Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) reintroduced the DREAM Act as a stand-alone bill days after Republicans voted against the measure as part of a defense authorization bill in the US Senate.

The DREAM Act, an acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth who came to the US as children (under the age of 16). Under the act, undocumented students can apply for a conditional legal status for a six-year period provided they graduate from a two-year college, complete two years of a four-year university, or serve in the military for two years.

At the end of the six-year period, they can become permanent legal residents if they have a clean criminal record. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the act would benefit nearly 825,000 students.

Senator Harry Reid (D-NBV) tried attaching the DREAM Act to the Defense Department’s annual spending authorization bill so he could hold a floor vote in the precious few legislative days remaining before Congress breaks next month.

The Republicans filibustered and the Senate—without a single Republican vote—voted 56-43 failing to reach the necessary 60 votes in order to advance the defense bill that also included the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" amendment.

The main argument against the bill from Republicans and other non-supporters is that the DREAM Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell have little relevance to defense.

Durbin, who has long championed the DREAM Act, said it might not be possible to pass the act for some undocumented students and military service members to gain legal status until a lame duck session or even the next session of Congress, according to reports from Washington Independent.

After the vote, Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrant groups lashed out at the Senate’s failure to move both pieces of the legislation.

"We are extremely disappointed that action was blocked by a minority of ultraconservatives from voting on providing a path to citizenship for the roughly 65,000 students who graduate from high school every year without legal immigration status," said Karen K. Narasaki, American Justice Center’s president and executive director.

"The DREAM Act would have allowed those who stay in school, or join the military, to become citizens," she added. "These are young people who were brought to this country as children and who want to contribute their talents to help rebuild our economy and serve in our military."

A former undocumented student Fil-Am law school student Angelo Mathay urged the Asian community to support the DREAM Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

"Filipinos need to change our ‘tago ng tago’ (hiding and hiding) status by coming out of the shadows if we want to change this unjust immigration policy," he said. "Gays and lesbians also need to come out of the closet to change the Filipino immigrant community’s perceptions of who we are. There is no shame in being queer and undocumented. The only thing that is shameful is our government’s policy of deferring our American DREAM, preventing us from being successful contributors to society."

Source : http://www.asianjournal.com/dateline...lone-bill.html