Thread: Privileges for illegals at stake in Senate vote on Amnesty

Door open for Reid to bring up 'Dream Act' proposal
Posted: December 14, 2010
1:00 am Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 9: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) rides the Capitol Subway while heading to vote on Capitol Hill December 9, 2010 in Washington, DC. The US House and Senate are trying to finish legislative business before the holiday break and end of the 111th Congress. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Supporters of the DREAM Act continue to believe the House's approval of the bill by a 216-198 vote sets the stage for its passage by the Senate before the lame duck Congress adjourns at the end of the month.

After considerable maneuvering in the Senate last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now free to bring up in the Senate the version of the DREAM Act passed last Wednesday in the House.

Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin, R- Ill., the Senate Democratic Party whip, said in a joint statement Thursday that they will work with House leaders to assure passage of the DREAM Act before the end of the current lame duck session of Congress.

"Only a massive reaction from the American people can stop the DREAM Act from passing the Senate before Christmas," William Gheen, head of Americans for Legal Immigration, told WND.

"Most Americans are not aware that the DREAM Act is close to passing at any moment," he said. "We are asking our activists to start climbing over the walls to rally talk radio and warn hosts that the hour is late, the situation is dire and only a massive reaction from the American public can stop Dream Amnesty from passing before Christmas."

Activists supporting the DREAM Act are also making calls for a public outcry to influence Congress before the end of December.

A torch rally pilgrimage that began 72 days ago in Mexico City at Mexico City's Basilica Guadalupe culminated Sunday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, with a group estimated at 5,000 greeting runners that had crossed 3,000 miles through nine Mexican states and 12 U.S. states to express their support for the DREAM Act.

The bill offers permanent legal status to illegal immigrants up to age 35 who arrived in the United States before age 16, provided they complete two years of college or two years of U.S. military service.

Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, estimates more than 1 million illegal immigrants will eventually enroll in community colleges or state universities as a result of the DREAM Act.

Camarota anticipates that with the low income of most illegal immigrants, about 80 percent of the illegal immigrants attending institutions of higher learning under the DREAM Act would gravitate to community colleges and state universities.

"Given limited space and limited funding at community colleges and state universities, illegal immigrants will crowd out U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in the United States," Camarota told WND.

Under the DREAM Act, illegal immigrants attending community colleges or public universities would receive in-state tuition.

Camarota estimates that on average, each illegal immigrant who attends a public institution will receive a tuition subsidy from taxpayers of nearly $6,000 for each year he or she attends, for a total cost of $6.2 billion a year, not including other forms of financial assistance they may also receive.

The DREAM Act does not provide funding to states or counties to cover the in-state tuition subsidies the bill mandates.

The bill also does not provide any enforcement mechanism to screen out fraud committed by applicants who may not meet its requirements, including the requirement that the applicant first came to the U.S. illegally before age 16.

Without an enforcement mechanism, Gheen estimates that the number of illegal immigrants applying for citizenship under the DREAM Act could turn out to total 2 to 3 million, not just the 1 million illegal immigrants truly in the U.S. before age 16.

"Whether the DREAM Act passes the Senate is entirely dependent upon whether or not the bill's supporters can find the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster," Camarota said, noting that Reid could not rely on all Senate Democrats to hold party line and vote for the legislation.

Numbers USA agrees, noting that Congress was flooded last week with phone calls opposing passage of the DREAM Act.

Numbers USA has targeted the following 10 senators as undecided votes on the DREAM Act:

* Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
DC: (202) 224-6665 Local: (907) 271-3735

* Mary Landrieu, D-Louis.
DC: (202) 224-5824 Local: (225) 389-0395

* Susan Collins, R-Maine
DC: (202) 224-2523 Local: (207) 622-8414

* Olympia Snowe, R-Maine
DC: (202) 224-5344 Local: (207) 622-8292

* Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
DC: (202) 224-4822 Local: (313) 961-4330

* Claire McCaskill, D-Miss.
DC: (202) 224-6154 Local: (314) 367-1364

* Max Baucus, D-Mont.
DC: (202) 224-2651 Local: (406) 657-6790

* Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
DC: (202) 224-2551 Local: (701) 250-4618

* Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
DC: (202) 224-2043 Local: (701) 258-4648

* Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
DC: (202) 224-3954 Local: (304) 264-4626

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239397

Camarota estimates that on average, each illegal immigrant who attends a public institution will receive a tuition subsidy from taxpayers of nearly $6,000 for each year he or she attends, for a total cost of $6.2 billion a year, not including other forms of financial assistance they may also receive.

Totally unacceptable! More Americans must wake up and say NO !

what about our kids don't they get any thing no dream Act my foot they don't be long in our country at all just in the usa for a free ride & Obama & Reid is doing a very good job don't we Have any say in this or it just congress , that has the say ? it Not right put everyone Of you in the the Wh . & you know we American ar e fighting this & you just don't care as long as the Illegal Immigrant are in Our country it all about your vote . you don't care . Our kids & the American also have right also . as Obama said at one time . if he became President
that the Illegal immigrant will Have DR Lic & they did & every thing . Obama just roll m out the Red Carpet for them & the hell with the Amercian . well I hope they don't Pass the bill No Amnesty

Made 8 calls including to Ca. (D) Boxer

The only one that appears to have an aid, which sounds like he is very pro-dream act was Susan Collins, R-Maine
DC: (202) 224-2523 Local: (207) 622-8414
But other than that-they were all friendly

Hey CreoleGuy,

Did you call Mary Landrieu's DC office? What was the response? The aide I spoke with said that Landrieu is FOR the Dream Act. I told her that Landrieu's New Orleans office informed me that she is voting AGAINST the Dream Act. The DC aide said that Landrieu has been announcing that she is going to vote YES over the past couple of weeks. I told the aide that if Landrieu votes YES, I'll campaign to see that she never holds public office in Louisiana again.

Landrieu's DC office needs to be pounded! If she's voting YES, she needs to feel the HEAT!

Just got off phone from Landrieu's New Orleans office. Aide was feisty with me - said Landrieu is now for the new House bill. Aide said "it is not an amnesty bill - it won't bring in more parents, aunts, uncles, 2nd cousins, etc. It is just for 'young' people so they can go to college and join the military". She said I shouldn't listen to Fox news, or MSNBC , but I should read the bill myself - not regurgitate it from what I hear from other sources". Definitely nasty!

This office needs to be pounded!!! Activists are welcome to take her up on her skewed understanding of the Dream Act. Phone number is: (504) 589-4023.

she is a Dem, of course she will vote for it. I have faith the repubs will stop this injustice to the American people

I faxed, emailed and I called all on the list.

Landrieu's office aid, the feisty one told me they didn't have a stance on the bill as it could be changed once on the floor. She said they couldn't give an opinion on the bill as it could be changed.

I asked what her stance is in it's present form and she said she believes it deserves to be heard on the floor.

I asked what her stance was about illegal immigration and she said this wasn't about illegal immigration, and I said, I didn't say it was, I just wanted to know her stance on illegal immigration. The aid told me Landrieu had never voted for amnesty before. I voiced my opposition to the bill and remarked that there will be no enforcement. The aid said there were enforcements in the bill and then I replied there are laws for immigration enforcement now, and they aren't enforced which shows the track record of enforcement, zilch. She said that Landrieu agrees there needs to be border enforcement.

If i remember correctly Senator Baucus said is is voting NO.

Still haven't been able to get a hold of SNOW, the line has been busy. I will keep trying up to 1:30, then I have to go to school.

So, it seems what we have here are a few Senators that are holding out for deals. How can you not have a stance on this issue as it has been a ten year ordeal? This entire lame duck session is a sell out of the American People once again. If this passes, in 25 years we will have once criminal illegal immigrants in congress.

Too bad people won't wake up and get off they're lazy bums.

I also urged all of them to listen to the American People as this has been defeated about 7 or 8 times, what part of NO do they not understand? I asked them to acknowledge those previous defeats and understand the American People don't want it period.

Called all ten. Many listened patiently. Some wanted to cut me off, and not hear me out on my points. Bottom line is that the senators are being paid for by the American citizen who is a taxpayer, and they should work for the American citizens, whether taxpayer or not, certainly not citizens of other countries. U.S. citizens should not be hurt with our own money!

The Dream Act is spending money when we should not spend money-new agencies, employees to process, tuition, etc.... No spending!! Many members of Congress do not seem to care about what the American voter said in Nov. 2010!! This is a lame duck Congress, and there should definitely not be any important voting going on there against the will of the people. This leader/representation thing is not working out that well anymore. They are so devious to hurt us in the lame duck before they lose voting members. Sometimes, I wish we had a countrywide vote on it. This behavior is why the citizens voted many of them out. See how disrespectful they are to their citizens? Not statesmanlike behavior, either, with all that hostage trash talk either, and demonizing "rich" people. It is really bad when the government thinks it owns people's money, and certainly counts it as theirs. I am definitely not rich, nor ever will be, but this taking so much from the rich is no less than common theft at gunpoint. IRS should be abolished in favor of a national sales tax on non-necessities, or a flat tax. It is unbelievable though, that almost half of the Americans citizens do not pay any federal income tax, but Congress does not stop spending? Does not compute.

American citizens need jobs, and our representatives should not, especially now with high unemployment and disaster looming over our heads, be giving the ability to work in this country to citizens of other countries.

No charity spending and creating more charity spending through backdoor amnesty and chain migration to people already here who made the choice for themselves and their children that they were willing to live with when they illegally crossed our border! No other country gives this amnesty, or hurts their own citizens and taxpayers this way, I believe. It is an utter disgrace the way our representatives behave against the will of the citizens with the citizens' own money.

I also told some that by extending unemployment benefits (SPENDING again) for another year, they are ruining people. Many people DO sit it out until it runs out. Employers will not want to hire these people, thereby creating another group who use taxpayers' money---taxtakers!