Dream Act Fails: Millions of Immigrant Children Considered Criminals
Oct 25, 2007 09:33 PM EDT
posted by Crystal Gutierrez
KDBC 4 News

Millions of children cross over into the United States every year. Most are so young, they don't have a choice. But according to the law, if they stay they're committing a crime.

One measure, called the Dream Act, promised to change all of that. However, the Dream Act failed to pass the Senate majority vote again. By a measly eight senate votes, the act will be tabled once more, shutting out any hopes of legalization for immigrant children.

If the act had passed it would have granted citizenship for children who came into the United States, with family members, before they were 16.

One 23-year-old woman says she's lived in the U.S. for nearly seven years and has grown so accustomed to life in the states, that she even graduated from high school. Now she plans to go to college, but she wanted to do it legally.

Since the majority of the Senate said "No" to the Dream Act, her dream of becoming a legal citizen was taken away again. She says, she did not commit a crime, but merely did as her mother told her.

The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce says, "Our Senate has chosen not to legally recognize children that committed no crime other than obey their parents."

However, according to the Federation for Immigration Reform, "defeat of the Dream Act is an important victory for Americans...the public will not be fooled by efforts to enact amnesty piece by piece."

This is the second time Senators have tried to push the Dream Act through, with no success.
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