Sens. consider help for immigrants' kids
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By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leaders have scheduled a showdown vote Wednesday on a bill that would give children brought to the USA by illegal immigrant parents a chance to qualify for citizenship.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the legislation's chief sponsor, said Tuesday that his biggest challenge was ensuring that supporters, including five senators — four Democrats and one Republican — running for president, make it to the Capitol for the roll call.

Another question mark: Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who are trying to return to California to review wildfire damage.

The bill, known as the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, would grant legal status to children and young adults who arrived here before the age of 16 and who have lived in the USA at least five years — if they complete two years of post-secondary education or two years of military service.

"It's the right thing to do. This is talent we cannot afford to waste," said Durbin, who appeared at a news conference with potential DREAM Act beneficiaries.
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The bill is the first piece of immigration legislation to come before the Senate since the defeat in June of a sweeping measure to overhaul the immigration system and legalize about 12 million illegal immigrants. The White House helped negotiate a provision providing relief for illegal immigrant children in that bill but was non-committal about the legislation now before the Senate.

"We will review the legislation, but I would note that the president has not supported the DREAM Act as a stand-alone piece of legislation in the past," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

The measure has attracted opposition from some of the same groups that brought down the broader immigration bill this year. Bob Dane of the Federation for American Immigration Reform called it "fundamentally unfair to those who came here legally."

Durbin needs 60 votes to allow the bill to be debated.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said the DREAM Act amounts to a "ratification of illegality" and could provide an incentive for more illegal immigration.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., issued a news release calling for immigration officials to arrest the three students who appeared with Durbin at his news conference.

All three students have legal status. Manuel Bartsch, a college freshman from Ohio, and Marie Gonzalez, a college junior from Missouri, both had deportation orders postponed because of the intervention of members of Congress. Tam Tran, a recent UCLA graduate, had her deportation stayed because Germany, the country where she was born after her parents fled Vietnam, refused to accept the family back.