The Dream Act

Posted on September 28, 2003 in Gray Davis Recall Immigration

There’s a plan afoot to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who have lived and contributed to this society called the “Dream Act” in Congress and guess which party is pushing it?

Both. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch is a major co-sponsor in the Senate.

According to the Berkeley Daily Planet:

A bipartisan U.S. Senate Bill—the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM)—would grant temporary residency to undocumented students provided they graduated from high school and lived in the United States continuously for at least five years. Students who then proceed to complete two years of college or a trade school, or enroll in the army or a volunteer service would be granted permanent residency.

The House version of the bill is more generous, bestowing permanent residency to students enrolled in the seventh grade or higher who have lived in the country for at least five years.

Among those who have supported the idea of amnesty for Latino aliens is George W. Bush who only put his plan on the shelf after 9-11. He’s not talking now because he still wants to be seen as a friend of Latinos and he doesn’t want to jinx the California recall election by telling the world what he really thinks.

So why are the Republicans pushing anti-immigration measures so publically? For the same reason they lie about their tax plans, about what happened in Florida in 2000, about the deficit, and about uranium deals between Hussein and the rest of the world: they want to win elections, especially the critical recall campaign in California.

I think the Dream Act is a good idea. For one thing, it offers a chance to fully participate in American life to people who have up to this moment been denied a chance. Second, it takes the issue of illegal immigration out of state politics and puts it back in Congress — where we can have one debate for our one nation instead of having partisan political hacks muddying the waters one state at a time.

The Sacramento Bee said it well:

It’s neither possible nor desirable to track down and deport millions of undocumented immigrants who either come here illegally or overstay visitors’ visas. Instead, this country must adapt to reality by finding a way to allow most illegal immigrants to earn legal status.

That does not mean lowering our guard against the terrorist threat. Indeed, a step-by-step program to grant many illegal immigrants legal status would not only protect them from abuse by unscrupulous employers, but also would diminish the terrorist threat by subjecting them to the same careful scrutiny given to those seeking to come here by the traditional method.

State-by-state solutions may deal with isolated problems, but they are no substitute for a national system that, if structured properly, could obviate the need for well-meant state laws that often inflame debate, as the bills now before Davis have done. Better to have one fight in Washington over immigration policy than in 50 state capitals.

Washington is the place to do it. Let’s call the bluff of the takeover paranoids behind the California recall: let’s have a national debate on the issue with the real facts. Fact one: the Republican Party is for the amnesty. Fact two: it is no crime to want a better life for yourself. Fact three: they’re only pushing the issue now so that they can undermine government protections for all working people, hand huge income tax cuts to the rich, and continue to drive the state into massive deficit.