This is the person who is BEING PAID to protect our children from a foreign invasion, and she is on the side of the foreigners! She needs to be fired!

President and DHS determined to pass DREAM Act

Nepolitano holds teleconference with national media, urging Congress to pass immigration bill
By Vincent D. Scebbi

Published: Monday, December 6, 2010
Updated: Monday, December 6, 2010 09:12
Eric Paul Zamora/Fresno Bee/MCT
http://www.independentcollegian.com/pre ... -1.2422761

If Congress passes the DREAM Act, undocumented minors who were brought into the United States by their parents without a choice will be able to gain residency as U.S. citizens by serving in the military or going to college.

United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urged Congress to pass the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act Thursday afternoon in a teleconference with national media.

In the conference, Napolitano said the DREAM Act is part of President Barack Obama's administration's push to update and reform the nation's immigration laws.

"I know that Congress is going to be considering the DREAM Act soon, and I wanted to reemphasize my support for it because the act will actually improve enforcement of immigration," Napolitano said.

Napolitano said the DREAM Act "fits into a larger strategy of immigration enforcement" and compliments efforts made by the DHS to prioritize enforcement resources.

There are two parts to the immigration laws reformation, according to Napolitano. The first is a continuation of prioritizing the deportation of "dangerous criminal aliens from the country."

Napolitano said, in the past two years, the U.S. has removed a record number of undocumented persons convicted of a criminal offense, including 195,000 in the 2010 fiscal year, a 70 percent increase from last year.

The second half of the process is allowing minors who have been brought into the country against their will — whether by parents, relatives or through human traffickers — to gain residency into the U.S. if they pass a rigorous selection process, Napolitano said.

Applicants would have to go through detailed background checks and have no offenses that hold grounds for removal.

Aside from the checks, those seeking residency are required to attend college or serve in the military and have a "good track record."

The act, Napolitano said, fits in with the United States' tradition of pardoning those who are without fault.

According to Napolitano, minors who were brought into the country without a choice deserve a strict and fair opportunity to gain citizenship.

"These young people themselves have no fault for being here in the United States," she said. "They were brought here by others. They've been raised here. They're going to school. They have to have a good track record. They have to go to college or join our armed forces. These are the kind of brains and commitment to our country we like to see and that's why the DREAM Act makes so much sense." ( Right. And if their parents rob a bank their kids should be allowed to keep the money! )

The most important thing to remember, she added, is the DREAM Act is not a replacement for immigration reform but is instead a way to compliment and improve what the DHS is already doing.

"By figuring out a solution for this category of young people, the DREAM Act will enable [the DHS] to prioritize to a greater extent the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws including the laws against those associated with smuggling drugs and other people," she said. "I urge Congress to pass the DREAM Act, to enable those young people who were brought here not on their own accord to become legalized members of American society."

In the conference, Napolitano said the overall system "doesn't work the way it ought to work and we need to solve the problem."

"One way is through effective enforcement," Napolitano said. "On the other hand, the law needs to be re-examined to fit our nation's labor needs and meet our grand historic tradition and that is where immigration reform comes in. That‘s where the DREAM Act comes in and that's why it's so important for Congress to show that it can take an important step forward in the immigration debate."

Napolitano said her current agenda is to continue to crack down on the deportation of illegal immigrants until the DREAM Act is passed.

The DREAM Act was first introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2001 and was reintroduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in March of 2009.

The Senate failed to pass the act in September 2010 and is reconsidering the act.

Napolitano said she urges Congress to come together in passing it, because Obama is so supportive of the act.

"The President is very supportive of the DREAM Act, and as he said repeatedly, he cannot just do these things on his own, just as I cannot and will not enforce the laws on my own," Napolitano said. "That is why Congress needs to act and that's why they need to come together on a bipartisan basis and recognize that in the grand tradition of our country, we do not punish those without fault and these young people themselves have no fault for being here in the United States."