Dream Act Editorial

On May 11, 2011, Senator Dick Durbin (D., IL) reintroduced the DREAM Act in the Unites States Senate. The DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors) Act would allow the foreign-born children of unauthorized residents in the U.S. to get on a path toward citizenship if they meet certain requirements. It is time to get real about the DREAM Act and pass this piece of legislation.

To a great extent, the DREAM Act has failed to pass in previous Congresses because of misconceptions and myths surrounding the bill. Yes, there are some legal reasons for not allowing persons born outside the U.S. and who are living in this country without authorization to continue to remain here. It is true that these young people are in violation of the law. But the law is not an end in itself. The Founding Fathers did not establish a Department of Laws, but a Department of Justice. Allowing the foreign-born children of unauthorized residents a chance to become citizens is not only just, but will also prove beneficial to our society.

Every year 65,000 high school seniors who are not U.S. citizens graduate from high school. These graduates were brought here by their parents. Some were brought as toddlers. They grew up in the U.S., attended U.S. schools, are completely acclimated to U.S. culture. To send these children and young people back to their country of origin would be “cruel and unusual.”

Many of these graduates want to continue their education. In fact, some have already enrolled or graduated from college. In order to continue studying they need access to government student loans. The DREAM Act will allow these students to apply for such loans. It will not, as some claim, automatically given college loans to these students

Currently, these students have to give up on the idea of college or find a way to pay for it themselves. Many choose to take jobs as janitors, domestics because, as non-citizens they can’t take advantage of work-study opportunities on campus.

Nor will the DREAM Act automatically given citizenship status to young people born in a foreign country but raised in the U.S. What the DREAM Act will do is offer the children born in a foreign country and brought to the U.S. before the age of 16 a chance to apply for U.S. citizenship.

In addition to being brought to the U.S. before their sixteenth birthday, the young people affected by the DREAM Act would have to graduate from an institution of higher learning, either a four-year university or community college, or serve in the military for two years. Thus the DREAM Act would encourage young people to get an education or serve their country.

The DREAM Act would also require that those applying for citizenship be of good moral character. This means that they would have to prove that they had never been arrested or otherwise been in trouble with the law. 
The DREAM Act would help those who are among the brightest and most loyal people currently living in the U.S. Our country needs their brainpower now more then ever. It’s time to make the DREAM Act real.