Thread: DREAM Act would light a path for citizenship

DREAM Act would light a path for citizenship

Foes see bill as amnesty for illegal immigrants; backers hope lame-duck Congress will help college students, military recruits

By Pat Flynn and Morgan Lee
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.

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Candlelight vigils across the county Monday highlighted the high stakes involved in the U.S. Senate’s scheduled vote this week on the DREAM Act, which would provide an avenue to eventual citizenship for college students and military recruits who were brought illegally to this nation as children.

Backers and foes of the bill see it as the first salvo in a much broader legislative fight over how to pursue changes to federal immigration laws.

Democrats in Washington have been pushing for passage of the DREAM Act during the lame-duck session before Republicans take over leadership of the House and strengthen their hand in the Senate. Political analysts said the measure, which critics see as amnesty for illegal immigrants, is up against tough odds in the Senate.

Under discussion for nearly a decade, the legislation would give certain illegal immigrants — those who came the U.S. before age 16, have no serious law-enforcement violations, are still 35 or younger and are on track with their education — the chance to stay by serving in the military or attending college for at least two years.

Qualified applicants would receive conditional permanent-residency status for six years while they complete those requirements. Afterward, they would be on track for gradual naturalization.

Estimates suggest that about 2.1 million people could receive legal residency status through the legislation.

The DREAM Act occupies a dwindling area of political common ground within the gridlock over comprehensive immigration reform, said political science professor Kristen Hill Maher at San Diego State University. Lawmakers, she said, are increasingly concerned about being labeled as soft on immigration as Americans scrape to find or hold on to jobs in a weak economy.

“I think there are a lot of people who are just ideologically opposed to the concept that immigrants who entered the country illegally or who overstayed a visa have a pathway to legalization,â€

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