Hilda Solis is Lobbying the Senate members and wrote this letter:

The White House Blog
The American DREAM
Posted by Secretary Hilda Solis on December 12, 2010 at 12:00 PM EST

Ed. Note: This is the second in a series of posts from top Administration Officials on the importance of the DREAM Act. Read Education Secretary Arne Duncan's post here.

Early in my career, I worked as a student advisor and higher education recruitment counselor. Many of the young people I worked with were undocumented, including a college-bound young man whose academic achievements and dedication to hard work made him a model student in everyone’s eyes. He gave everything his all, and today he’s an environmental scientist. He has a rewarding, interesting and good-paying job. And he is making his own unique contribution to our country and the world.

He understood what a privilege it is to live in a country that allowed him to get a good education. That’s precisely why he chose to give back through public service. It’s his way of showing his profound gratitude.

I think about him every time I talk about the DREAM Act–legislation designed to stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents, by giving them the chance to either obtain legal status by pursuing a higher education, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces.

The DREAM Act has long enjoyed bipartisan support. And the vote in the House of Representatives this week followed suit, with eight Republicans voting to pass the measure.

There’s no reason why it shouldn’t receive that kind of support in the Senate. It’s time to act. Now.

The DREAM Act gives some of our nation’s brightest students a fighting chance. It eliminates barriers to higher education that often result in high drop out rates. It provides powerful incentives to stay in school . . . and to graduate. The bottom line: workers with more education fare much better than workers with less.

The President has long been a strong supporter of the DREAM Act, and was a co-sponsor when he was in the Senate. I was an enthusiastic supporter when I served in Congress. And as Labor Secretary (often called “America’s Job Counselorâ€