Senate Votes Against DREAMs

This
morning, in a procedural vote requiring 60 votes to advance the
legislation, the U.S. Senate voted against the DREAM Act by a 55-41
margin, effectively shutting the doors of opportunity to thousands of
bright and talented young people who grew up in America and wanted to
give back to the country they call home.

The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice:

"Today we won a majority of votes in the Senate. Last week we
won a majority of the votes in the House. But because of a Republican
filibuster we needed 60 votes to pass DREAM and we fell short.

To those who did the right thing and voted for DREAM, you had
our back and we'll have yours. But to the majority of Republicans and
the handful of Democrats who voted against the best and the brightest of
the Latino immigrant community, your vote against DREAM will be
remembered as long as you are in politics. Many of you have expressed
your sympathy for the DREAMers. But today we did not need your
sympathy. We needed your vote.

As disappointed as we are in those who slammed the door of
opportunity on talented young people who are Americans in all but
paperwork, we are buoyed by the nationwide outpouring of support for
this cause, the unprecedented mobilization in support of DREAM across
the nation, and the leadership and courage of the DREAMers who came to
Washington to insist on making their DREAM come true.

Where do we go from here? We will continue fighting,
organizing, mobilizing and educating. We will continue to build an ever
more powerful movement. We will continue to speak up and speak out for
immigrant youth, for immigrant families, for immigration reform that
embodies the best of our ideals rather than the worst of our fears.

We get stronger every day. We may have lost this battle, but
in the war between justice and injustice, inclusion and exclusion,
courage and cowardice, victory is not a matter of if, but a matter of
when."