Blogdolfo

By Adolfo Flores

Supporters of the DREAM Act are determined to continue to push for its passage as a stand-alone bill or as part of comprehensive immigration reform despite the U.S. Senate having halted the legislation in its tracks Oct. 23.

The bill would have offered certain undocumented students a path to citizenship.

“It’s unlikely the Senate will take up the issue again,” National Immigration Forum communications director Douglas Rivlin told Weekly Report. “Ultimately it’s up to the Speaker of the House to decide whether to address immigration this year or not.”

Supporters of the DREAM Act failed to obtain 60 votes needed to bring the bill to a floor vote, falling short by eight votes on a 52-44 cloture vote.

“By blocking action on the DREAM Act, Senate Republicans prevented a critical first step to address our nation’s broken immigration system,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stated.

Although Pelosi supports comprehensive immigration reform, her office stated that no further comment was available as to whether she will bring the DREAM Act up in the House.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus held a meeting with Pelosi regarding the Act and broader immigration reform Oct. 24.

“We got together on how it is we’re going to equip ourselves regarding the immigrant community, and next week we’re having a follow-up meeting with the leadership so we can continue to have our discussions,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) told Weekly Report. “We’re going to keep pressing for a comprehensive immigration reform packet which includes the DREAM Act.”

The Bush Administration maintained that while it was “sympathetic” to the situation these young immigrants were in, it opposes the bill. from a U.S. high school or attained a GED, arrived in the country before they were 16, resided in the United States for at least five consecutive years, shown good moral character and be under 30 years of age.

The Center for Immigration Studies, a research group in the nation’s capital which opposes the legalization of undocumented immigrants, estimates some 2.1 million undocumented persons would benefit from the DREAM Act.

An earlier report by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Migration Policy Institute estimated that some 360,000 undocumented high school graduates between 18-24 years of age would be eligible for conditional legal status under the bill. Its report also estimates that about 715,000 undocumented adolescents ages 5-17 would become eligible for conditional and then permanent legal status in the future, bringing the total to

“By creating a special path to citizenship that is unavailable to other prospective immigrants — including young people whose parents respected the nation’s immigration laws — S. 2205 falls short,” according to a statement of administration policy.

To receive conditional legal status under the bill, beneficiaries must have graduated about 1 million. The report by MPI doesn’t take into account those between the ages of 25-30 who would also benefit from the DREAM Act.

“It’s time for Congress to focus on the concerns of the American people, instead of the agenda of the people who have broken our laws,” stated Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

“We should not punish children for the sins of their parents,” said Senator Robert Menéndez (D-N.J.). “The opponents of this reasonable, bipartisan measure cried ‘amnesty’ as they always do. But this was not amnesty.”

(As published in Hispanic Link Weekly Report on Oct. 29, 2007)