Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign(RI4A), said:
Should Congress pass the DREAM Act allowing undocumented young people to earn citizenship if they meet certain educational or military service stipulations?
Yes. The DREAM Act is an important component in the fight to reform our immigration system and would strengthen our economic competitiveness. The DREAM Act is bipartisan legislation that would adjust the legal status of young immigrant students who have lived in the US for at least 5 years, earn a high school diploma, show good moral character, and are committed to go to college or enter military service.
Young immigrant students are the overlooked casualties of the immigration debate’s overheated rhetoric. They were brought to the U.S. as children through no fault of their own, were raised in America, educated in America and think of themselves as Americans. Many long to earn a college degree or serve the country in uniform but they face a dim future of dead-end jobs because they are stuck in a paperwork trap.
The DREAM Act addresses the purgatory-like status of these young immigrant students who are ready to give back to America – their home – through hard work and service. This bipartisan bill offers a practical solution. It defies common sense to put higher education out of reach for hard working immigrant students. Doing so won’t force them to leave our country—the only country they call home, It would, however force them to remain in the underground workforce while America is deprived of the increased economic productivity and tax revenues provided by a better-educated workforce.
Young men and women who are willing to fight and die for this country or who are ready to contribute with their hard work should be able to participate in the great opportunity that is America. The Dream Act rejects the unacceptable waste of young talent and puts America in the position to benefit from the talents, service, and contributions of a new generation of hard working young immigrants.
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