Federal DREAM Act looks unlikely as Obama focusing on security, experts say

President Obama said while campaigning for reelection his “biggest failure” in his first term was an absence of comprehensive immigration reform. He has enforced border protection and security.

Undocumented students hoping to one day become citizens may have thought they saw a glimmer of hope in September.

While campaigning for his second term, President Obama cited the absence of comprehensive immigration reform in his first term as his “biggest failure” in a television interview with Univision in Miami.

He kicked off his second term by outlining a blueprint for immigration reform. But plans for a federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act may have been buried within Obama’s rhetoric to strengthen border security and crack down on employers hiring illegal immigrants, experts said. Or, they argue, a path to citizenship is coming second to enforcement.

While federal lawmakers plan to unveil a framework this month, it remains to be seen whether a federal DREAM Act will weave its way into a comprehensive bill, or if it will become a secondary objective to what has become the centerpiece of Obama’s immigration record: deportations.

“It’s been an enforcement-first policy,” said university economist Jeffrey Werling. “Obama never really got off the ground with an alternative.”

The DREAM Act would provide children who came to the country before they were 16 years old with a path to citizenship if they attend a four-year college or serve in the military for two years.

“Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration’s already made, putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years,” Obama said in his State of the Union address last month.

“Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship, a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally,” he added.

But experts noted he did not mention the DREAM Act or allude to a pathway to citizenship for undocumented students looking to regularize their immigration status by earning a diploma.

In June, Obama issued the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals directive, which halts the deportation of undocumented citizens who pursue a path to citizenship while helping them secure working papers, but it doesn’t have the same staying power that a federal DREAM Act would.

Werling would like to see both Obama and Congress take it a step further when drafting legislation. Reform, he said, should emphasize a reasonable path to citizenship, instead of channeling more federal dollars to resources on the border that would make the walls “higher” and the fences “longer.” It is difficult to scratch the surface, though, when Congress is wary of mentioning the ‘A’ word, Werling said.

“If you want to call it ‘amnesty,’ so be it, I’m all for it,” Werling said. “I really do think we need to have some sort of road to green cards, some kind of road to citizenship in the end for folks who deserve it.”

But for now, “That seems to be the last thing on the table,” he added.

Before any plan resembling amnesty can be debated, however, lawmakers on Capitol Hill will almost certainly seek more enforcement, said Isabel Garcia, co-chairwoman of the human rights organization Derechos Humanos. But Garcia doubts the debate will advance much from there because the border fence will never truly satisfy the ardent supporters of stricter security measures.

“It certainly cannot begin with a trigger condition that there be border security or more border security,” Garcia said. “I think we’re really headed in the wrong direction.”

In the days following the State of the Union, a draft of a White House immigration bill leaked to the press. It included provisions that would allow the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants to get on an eight-year path to obtain visas. There was also mention of extending citizenship to DREAM Act individuals, even though Obama has only lightly touched upon these aspects of reform in his recent speeches and news releases.

However, Obama pledged to present his bill only if Congress couldn’t pass its own — and passing Obama’s bill may prove exceptionally difficult. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is on an eight-member senatorial committee drafting an immigration bill, called Obama’s plan “dead on arrival.”

The border has usually taken center stage in the debate over immigration because of the drug war and the cross-border smuggling of arms into Mexico. Werling, however, has become skeptical as to whether the costs to stem these illegal activities are worth the price. He added that it may be in Congress’s interest to refocus its efforts on undocumented workers currently in the country, especially because they continue to compose a growing portion of the workforce.

“For some reason, Americans buy the myth that securing the border in a physical way, that that’ll be solving the problem,” Werling said. He added that Mexico is more stable than it has been in past years, and if employers make an effort to crack down on illegal employment, the problem of smuggling could solve itself.

Despite the DREAM Act getting shortchanged in immigration talks, Werling said it has a better chance of becoming a part of a comprehensive legislative package, but broader measures to address the undocumented population at large will be more difficult to pass.

A plan to help students secure citizenship could gather momentum in Congress, but Werling said “their parents, apparently, might be out of luck on that.”

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Federal DREAM Act looks unlikely as Obama focusing on security, experts say - The Diamondback : Nation