DREAM Act Alert!!! DREAM ACT Alert!!! DREAM Act Alert!!!
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Let's try an immigration compromise
Kids brought here by parents could stay after college or military service

September 5, 2007
BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist
http://www.suntimes.com:80/news/brown/5 ... 05.article

It's believed that something like 65,000 illegal immigrants are graduating each year from American high schools.
Obviously, not many of them match the profile of Oscar, the young man I told you about Tuesday who slipped across the border from Mexico with his family when he was 9.

That's only because there aren't that many young men and women -- period -- like Oscar, a high-achieving computer whiz from the the south suburbs who scored 30 on his ACT, graduated third in his high school class and dreams of going to M.I.T.

In most other respects, though, Oscar's circumstances are fairly typical of that group, and his dilemma certainly is.

When these young people graduate high school, they've got a big problem: Even though they've grown up in this country and most likely consider it their home, they are in the same legal stew as the parents who brought them here.

That means that because of their immigration status, they can't legally get a job. They also face extra barriers in going to college. Unlike their American citizen classmates, they can't qualify for financial aid, not even federal student loans.

But they're here just the same and looking to participate in our society.

There's Jose from Joliet, who came to this country when he was 3 and didn't even know he was illegal until he wanted to sign up for driver's ed and his parents explained he couldn't. Jose, who has a 4.0 GPA at Joliet Junior College, dreamed of becoming a police officer or firefighter. As things stand, that's not possible.

Or there's Dee from Bolingbrook by way of Quito, Ecuador, who envisioned joining the U.S. military after high school en route to becoming a lawyer -- until she realized illegal immigrants are prohibited from serving in our armed forces.


'Didn't make a conscious decision'

The question is what to do about them, and while my e-mail inbox is dominated by those who would send Oscar and the others back from whence they came, just like Elvira Arellano, I've got to believe this is a situation where many Americans would see the sense in finding an alternative.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois thinks he has a solution.

For the past six years, Durbin has been a sponsor of what is called the DREAM Act, which stands for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors.

The idea is that we'd give young illegal immigrants an opportunity to achieve legal status if they went to college or joined the military.

To qualify, a person must have entered the U.S. before age 16 and must have lived here at least five years before the law's enactment. They also would need to graduate high school, have no criminal record and demonstrate "good moral character" as defined by current immigration law.

Durbin would grant them "conditional permanent resident status" for six years, during which they would either need to complete an associate degree, two years toward a bachelor's degree or serve two years in the U.S. armed forces. Completion would qualify them to become permanent legal residents.

Because of his involvement, Durbin has gotten to know many of the impressive young people currently treated by immigration law as outcasts, including Oscar, who by the way had the moxie to give the senator a business card from his computer consulting company. Durbin says meeting them has made the legislation that much more important to him.

"Why would you ever turn these kids away?" said Durbin, noting that Oscar and the others just followed their parents here. "They didn't make a conscious decision to break the law and cross the border."

Plan has an outside shot

While broader immigration reform legislation was stymied this year in Congress, Durbin still thinks there's an outside possibility the DREAM Act could win approval because of its bipartisan appeal. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, was one of the original Senate co-sponsors, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is among those on board.

Giving the proposal a little momentum was an endorsement from the U.S. Defense Department, which obviously needs the recruits. In the next few weeks, Durbin may try attaching the DREAM Act to the defense authorization legislation.

In the current political atmosphere, I'm not convinced you can separate the DREAM Act issue from the larger question, but I'm no Washington expert.

At some point, we have to start finding points of agreement in the immigration debate. This would be a place to start.