Dr. Paul's Daily Dose of Freedom

DREAM Act
_______________
Statement on Immigration Agreement

South Carolina Supporters for Ron Paul
10/17/07









DREAM Act



The American people rose up out of their usual apathy this year and
soundly defeated the Bush-Kennedy- McCain-Kyl bill to give amnesty to
illegal aliens. Now, some Senators are trying to get Congress to pass a
backdoor amnesty by calling it the DREAM Act, and it's really a
nightmare for Americans.

The cutesy title DREAM, which is meant to be a double entendre, is an
acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors
(S.774).

The DREAM Act would allow any illegal alien of any age who entered the
United States before age 16, and has a high school diploma or
equivalent, to enroll in any of the state's universities and pay only
the in-state tuition rate. Being illegal is the prerequisite to getting
this preferential treatment, which is denied to legal aliens with valid
student visas.

In-state tuition can amount to a taxpayer subsidy of up to $20,000 a
year, depending on what the university charges students from the other
49 states.

The illegal alien also becomes eligible for taxpayer-paid federal
student loans and federal work-study programs, for which lawful foreign
students are not eligible. But that's not all. The illegal aliens would
be rewarded with conditional lawful permanent resident (green card)
status, which can be converted to a non-conditional green card. The
alien can use his new legal status to seek green cards for the parents
who illegally brought him into our country.

The alien has six years to convert his green card from conditional to
non-conditional. He just needs to complete two years of study at a
college or serve two years in the military, and if he has already had
two years of college, he can convert his green card to non-conditional
immediately. The illegal alien who applies for this DREAM Act amnesty
can count his years under conditional green card status toward the five
years needed for citizenship. That's a fast track to citizenship that is
not available to aliens who are lawfully present in our country.

Section 4(f) provides that, once an alien files an application, the
government cannot deport him. A federal officer who shares with another
federal agency any information on the alien's application (such as
admission of illegal entry) can be fined $10,000.

In-state college tuition is so unpopular with the American people that
the only way a Congressman could support this bill is by hoping it
passes before the public discovers how bad it is. Arizona's Proposition
300, which specifically bars Arizona universities from giving in-state
tuition rates to illegal aliens, passed last year with a majority of
71.4 percent.

Support for in-state tuition rates for illegals was the number-one issue
that caused the upset defeat of U.S. Representative Tom Osborne (the
immensely popular former University of Nebraska football coach) in his
campaign for governor of Nebraska in 2006. He fumbled and endorsed
in-state tuition for illegal aliens while his opponent, Governor Dave
Heineman, vetoed it and ran campaign ads against it.

The DREAM Act would give amnesty not only to illegal aliens, but also
give amnesty to ten states that have been flagrantly violating federal
law. The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act expressly forbids a state to give in-state tuition rates to illegal
aliens unless that subsidy is also granted to all U.S. citizens
nationwide.

The DREAM Act would retroactively repeal that law, thereby saving the
ten states from punishment and equal-protection lawsuits filed by

out-of-state Americans and law-abiding foreign students. The ten states
that have been engaging in a 21st century use of the 19th century theory
called nullification (defying a federal law the state doesn't like) are
California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma,
Texas, Utah, and Washington.

We are indebted to Professor Kris Kobach of the University of
Missouri-Kansas City for publicizing how the DREAM Act treats illegal
aliens more favorably than law-abiding citizens and legal aliens. The
bill's sponsor, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has not been successful in
attaching it to a defense authorization bill, but Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV) says he will bring it up in November. Tell your U.S.
Senators the DREAM Act must be defeated.








Statement on
Immigration Agreement

May 17, 2007


I remain very skeptical about the idea of so-called comprehensive immigration reform and the Senate compromise now being discussed. I will oppose any legislation that in any way, shape, or form grants amnesty to the millions of people who are in this country illegally. I have advocated that we should tighten citizenship requirements, and I still believe that. Moreover, the argument that we need to start a guest worker program is simply a shell game, we already have a generous guest worker program that the American people support. Support for such a program should not be used as a back door to amnesty for illegals.