Young Immigrants’ Dreams Die in Senate
They killed the Dream.
Last week, the Senate - pushed by a craven White House - rejected the Dream Act, which would have granted temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who have graduated from high school with good records and attend college or serve in the military.
Let’s face it: That’s a group of striving, straight-arrow immigrants that this country needs as citizens. But the Senate refused to even allow the measure, sponsored by Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin, to come to the floor for debate. After President Bush came out with a statement opposing the measure shortly before the vote, 36 Republicans and eight Democrats voted “no.”
Every one of them should be ashamed. It was an ugly bit of nativism, a shortsighted and nonsensical decision made to appease the know-nothings, not to advance the national interest. And it exposed the raw prejudices fueling the controversy over immigration.
“This or any type of an amnesty bill would be a slap in the face of all of those who came in legally,” grumped Sen. James M. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican.
When they take care to be circumspect, the activists denouncing illegal immigration portray their cause as a legitimate concern about freeloaders who crowd public schools with their non-English-speaking children, burden public hospitals and destroy neighborhoods by turning single-family homes into boarding houses. They cite studies about undocumented workers who depress wages. They mention those who have committed crimes.
But the Dream Act would not have rewarded any of that. It focused on a small group: around 500,000 young adults out of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. They would have attended college or technical school, putting them outside the low-wage work force that digs ditches or washes laundry. They would speak English. They would have paid taxes from higher-earning jobs.
The narrowly tailored bill would have applied only to immigrants who had been younger than 16 when they entered the United States, had lived here at least five years and are currently under 30. They would have six years of conditional legal status, during which they would have to complete two years of college or military service. If they complied with those requirements, they would be eligible for permanent residency.
Mr. Bush backed essentially the same proposal when it was part of a comprehensive immigration reform plan. Indeed, when he was governor of Texas, he had a reputation as a progressive supporter of hardworking immigrants - no matter how they crossed the border. But now, the president, too, has caved in to the GOP’s small-minded, vitriolic Mexican-bashers.
They would dash the dreams of a young man such as Marco, a Georgia Tech engineering student who earned a perfect score on the math portion of his SAT. A graduate of a suburban Atlanta high school, Marco has been in this country since he was 4, but his parents entered the country illegally. What sense does it make to deny him a path to citizenship?
Why deny citizenship to those who would serve in the military of their new country? The Army is desperate for recruits, so much so that it has relaxed its standards for the native-born, turning a blind eye to troubled pasts and failed drug tests. Doesn’t it make more sense to take a high-achieving illegal immigrant who is likely to be a better soldier?
It is no great surprise that some Americans have allowed a primitive distrust of those who look or sound or worship differently to harden into resentment. But it is surprising - and disappointing - that so many of our elected leaders quake and cower before those impulses rather than standing up and opposing them.
So much for profiles in courage.
Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her column appears Mondays in The Sun. Her e-mail is cynthia@ajc.com.
Copyright © 2007 The Baltimore Sun
It’s too bad. The Congress claims its following the wishes of the majority in this case.
Then when SCHIP comes around, they ignore the wishes of the majority claiming they want to protect against socialized medicine and they know better than the voters.
When it comes to ending the Iraq war or avoiding confrontation with Iran, they become lickspittle employees of the corporate oligarchy in control, again ignoring the voters.
Go figure.
They are still being ‘lickspittle employees of the corporate olitgarchy’ on this one.
The corporations would rather outsource these jobs to some place like India. Failing that, they want employees who’s jobs are tied to their visa on an H-1B(something like that) basis. The last thing they’d want is for these people to have permanent residency such that the corporation can’t hold their right to live here as something that’s tied to their job.
The Dream Act was a lame attempt to boost military recruitment with immigrants who would have to stay in for 8 years. How many “illegal” immigrants can afford college versus signing up for the army? Duhh!!
Congress has only Repugnicraps wandering the halls and chambers cutting deals - they’re all the same - for US world domination, militarize schools for children, and take away our civil rights.
Maybe I’m misinformed, but my understanding was this bill (among other things) would have allowed the people it targeted to pay in-state tuition, regardless of their residency and where they live. I’m here LEGALLY and I don’t get that option. I can’t just go to any state school in the US and pay in-state tuition.
And although they deny it, this would indeed provide more incentive for illegal immigration. Think about it…a family comes here illegally, knowing full well that when their children get older, they will have path to citizenship. How is that NOT an incentive?
I don’t deny that a lot of these families come here for good reasons, and with the best of intentions for a better life, but I simply can’t get around that fact they did it illegally. When I think about it, the very first thing they did upon arriving here…the VERY first thing, was to break immigration law. At that point, you cannot say you are just a law abiding person trying to make a better life…what you are is a person who CHOSE to break the law because you could and you thought you wouldn’t get caught.
Again, I’m not saying we don’t have a horribly broken immigration system, but the way to fix it isn’t to throw up your hands an ignore it! It may suck (and it does), but it’s what we have…it needs to be fixed, not made into a mockery.
Defeating this bill just reinforces the pressure of undocumented high school kids to join a gang. In Washington State, an undocumented person is considered to be out-of-state when they apply for college, so they have to pay 4 times the tuition fees a resident of the state would.
These high tuition fees are not affordable, so why even bother finishing high school? Why not just join a gang?
qwijibo,
They would not break the law, if the US granted them legal entry. But the only way in Latin America for people to get a visitors visa (only to come as a tourist) is by paying more than 100 dollars just for the appointment at the Embassy. They also have to bring proof of property ownership, bank accounts, good paying job, etc.
What percentage of the population in this poor countries do you think could fulfill the requirements? Less than 5% probably.
jobson,
“Defeating this bill just reinforces the pressure of undocumented high school kids to join a gang. In Washington State, an undocumented person is considered to be out-of-state when they apply for college, so they have to pay 4 times the tuition fees a resident of the state would.
These high tuition fees are not affordable, so why even bother finishing high school? Why not just join a gang?”
Which of course increases the urgent need for mercenaries & paramilitary police forces to patrol the streets of Die Heimat.
qwijibo–I think you are mistaken. The Dream Act would have entitled students to go to college in the state where they live. They would have the same residency requirements as any other student. That’s the point.
The empire needs slaves, plenty of slaves, both in the country and abroad. It’s that simple.
My granparents were undocumented. My parents would have qualified as anchor babies. I was born in the US. How dare they? How absolutely dare they? The American dream belongs to anyone who wants to dream it. Period.
“This or any type of amnesty bill would be a slap in the face of all those who came in legally”, according to Senator Inhofe. Actually, Inhofe doesn’t give a shit about those who came in legally. Were his ancestors all ‘legal’?? Those Senators who voted against the Dream Act did it to pander to the racist nativists who are aflutter about brown pollution of their white paradise (about to sink, sadly, but they wouldn’t know it). The irony is that America desperately needs these people. Let’s hope the Latino vote does a ‘California’ nationwide against the repugnant rightwingers who scuppered this admirable attempt by Sen. Durbin.