| Feenmi |
06-27-2011 10:51 PM |
Democrats pitch DREAM Act as needed economic patch
Quote:
WASHINGTON — The last time the Obama administration made a hard push to legalize some of the children of illegal immigrants, officials focused on some of the inspirational and sympathetic stories of honor students who could gain legal status through the DREAM Act.
As Democrats renew their push for that act in a Senate hearing Tuesday, the sales pitch will also focus on how those children can help the nation's foundering economy.
The DREAM Act provides legal residency and the eventual chance for illegal immigrants brought into the U.S. as children to become full-fledged citizens. These immigrants, under the proposed law, could become citizens if they maintain a clean criminal record, graduate from high school and plan on attending college or joining the military.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday he will continue to support passage of the law by explaining how the hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit from the act would contribute to the economy.
Because they would be getting better jobs, they'd be paying more taxes, starting businesses and creating jobs, all of which would infuse a much-needed kick-start to the economy and help drive down the national debt, Duncan said.
"This could be a piece of a solution to a number of the challenges our country faces," Duncan said.
Whatever the argument, it will be a hard sell.
The DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, passed the Democratic-controlled House in December, but fell short of the 60 votes necessary to win passage in the Senate. Since then, Republicans have taken over the House, and GOP leaders have said they won't consider the DREAM Act until the U.S.-Mexico border is secure and Congress examines the legislation alongside other enforcement provisions.
Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said the economic argument would not help because U.S. citizens are most concerned about their own jobs.
"Americans don't want a jobs bill for illegal immigrants, they want an opportunity to go back to work," Smith said in a statement.
But Duncan pointed to the fact that there are 3 million unfilled jobs in America in the fields of in the fields of science, technology, education and mathematics that these students could help fill.
Senate Democrats are well aware of the difficulty in passing the act through the new House, which leads some to believe that the renewed push for the DREAM Act is designed simply as a political ploy to show Hispanic voters ahead of the 2012 elections that the Democrats are working for them.
"They have to try that to cover themselves, even though they know it's not going to go anywhere," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group that wants to limit both legal and illegal immigration.
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who has spent years trying to pass the DREAM Act, said Monday he doubts he has the votes needed to get it passed through the Senate. But he's sponsoring the bill again because enough Republicans have told him privately that there are ways they could support it, so he's confident a compromise can be reached even though so many other immigration-related issues remain divisive.
"I always felt it was kind of in a special category," Durbin said. "I face these young people all the time and I can't turn around and I can't quit."
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...passage_n.htm# |
