An Unfinished DREAM

I have been pretty patient with some of these anti-immigrant group postings but I had to respond to something written against the DREAM Act...... Here goes.....

I am amazed at the lies printed against the DREAM Act...one only has to read the bill to know that this will ONLY benefit, law-abiding students who go through a 6 year legalization process on top of already being in the Immigration system for 10 years+. Most of these students have been "in line", going to court, to legalize in the U.S.

What do these anti-immigrant people think? That this is just handed over to anyone? Our country is not stupid and will not pass a law which would allow anyone a free pass....The DREAM Act has been drafted over year after year going through dozens of revisions.

The DREAM Act benefits students who earn at least 2-year degree or youth who enter the military (and serve for 2 years.) who came into this country before they were 16 years old. Many were brought as infants. Some were able to legalize most of their families but because of our broken immigration system some children have aged out and are left with no option for any help. You can have a mother, father, and 1 brother be legal and 1 brother is undocumented.

The DREAM Act has conditional legal status for 6 years in which they can earn an Associates Degree or serve in the military (2 years) before they start permanent legalization. These are students who have grown up as Americans in every sense. Some don't even know the language of their sending countries.

The DREAM Act 2009:
"The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (The "DREAM Act") is a piece of proposed federal legislation that was introduced in the US Senate, and the US House of Representatives in March 26, 2009. This bill would provide certain immigrant students who graduate from US High Schools, are of good moral character, arrived in the US as children, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment, the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency. The students will obtain temporary residency for a lapse of six years. Within the six year period, a qualified student must attend college, and earn a two year degree, or serve in the military for two years in order to earn citizenship after the six years period. If student does not comply with either his/her college requirement or military service requirement, temporary residency will be taken away and student will be subjected to deportation." Wikipedia.com

Even Wikipedia has the correct information and yet I see gibberish written about how anyone can commit fraud and become legal along with bringing all of their relatives. This is NOT true!

In fact, the DREAM Act only benefits the students who earn at least a 2 year degree or youth that serve in the military.

In regard to the military component, it is a choice. You can choose to earn a 2-year degree or serve in a senseless war. That is the young person's choice.

There is already backdoor undocumented recruitment by the military. If you don't want to accept the DREAM Act for this reason then don't apply to legalize or choose to go to college. You can choose to go back to a country you have never known. Either way, this is a CHOICE.

It would benefit you more to attain higher education than to stay in the United States as an undocumented person.

Citizens:
Please read the DREAM Act and call your local congressperson to support it. This would help thousands of students who can then contribute back their communities, help our failing economy, and empower youth who otherwise feel held back among so much more. Having an educated youth is detrimental for our future as a country. Our country needs to help each other in order to overcome this domestic crisis we are currently in.

If a student has a DREAM to graduate college why would you hold them back? Why would you kill another person's dreams because of your own fear or bias? Please get to know these students before you pass judgement on them without knowing the unique circumstances in which they were brought to the country. These are straight A students, some are already enrolled in Ivy Leage Universities, some have graduated with Masters and PhD's but cannot use them legally.

Make no mistake, all of these students competed with all other students academically and overcame extreme life circumstances in order attend college and earn their degrees. Earning a spot in a top university is EARNED not given. They competed with over 4.0 GPA's, working several jobs to pay for their education out of their pockets, and have EARNED their space in those universities.

All of these children were brought into this country as undocumented individuals by their parents. Please do not fault the children for their parents actions.

Please Pass the DREAM Act in 2009.

www.DreamAct2009.com
sign the online petition

Call your congressperson and tell them to support the DREAM Act

~~~~

Margarita 

U.S. Rep. Michael M. Honda, D-Calif

Published Online: April 6, 2009
Commentary

Dreaming of College: A Path to Higher Education for Undocumented Students

By Michael M. Honda

At the end of March, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives reintroduced in Congress the DREAM Act , legislation I am co-sponsoring that would provide 360,000 undocumented high school graduates with legal means to work and attend college in the United States. The bill (whose acronym stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) may well reinvigorate public furor over immigration, and will no doubt receive even greater attention when the College Board releases what will be a groundbreaking report, “Young Lives on Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students.”
Despite the bill’s bipartisan support and previous Republican leadership on this legislation, cries for a “return home” to native countries may surface, and some may claim undocumented students will usurp our school seats and funding.
Given this potential reaction, there is cause for clarification, since many concerns are unfounded. In fact, the projected results of this legislation may be surprising to skeptics. The DREAM Act would provide a serious shot in the arm to our struggling economy, and, if it is passed, our educational investments would see substantially better returns.
Here is our current conundrum that the DREAM Act is keen to fix. Presently, roughly 65,000 undocumented students who have lived in the United States for five years or longer graduate from high school each year. While they can, in theory, proceed to college, most cannot since they are ineligible for financial aid.
This sets up a financial blow to our economy in two key ways.
First, state and federal dollars spent on K-12 education are not being efficiently returned to our economy, since high school graduates make about half as much as college graduates in the professional market. That means that, every year, as many as 65,000 undocumented high school graduates enter the American marketplace financially ill-equipped to improve their own circumstances and make greater contributions to the U.S. economy.
An ill-equipped student makes for an ill-equipped earner: Across all racial and ethnic groups, there is a positive correlation between higher levels of education and higher earnings. Compare the average weekly earnings of high school graduates, at roughly $600 a week, with those of college graduates, at roughly $1,000 a week. Consider the unemployment rate among high school graduates, at 9 percent, with that of college graduates, at only 4 percent.
Lower earners pay lower taxes and have a lower purchasing power in the marketplace, and social services for the unemployed are burdened further. As an example of the economic-stimulus potential from increased schooling, a 1999 study found that a 30-year-old immigrant woman with a college degree would pay $5,300 more in taxes and require $3,900 less in government expenses each year compared with a high school dropout with similar characteristics. This would amount to a total annual increased fiscal contribution of more than $9,000 per person.
Second, we are missing an opportunity to provide undocumented immigrants with a chance for substantial upward mobility, a pursuit only possible with legal status. The more upwardly mobile immigrants are, the more taxes they pay, and the more capable they are of contributing economically to society. The DREAM Act makes these financial returns possible by enabling undocumented immigrant youths, brought into this country years ago as children, to obtain legal permanent-resident status if they graduate from high school and go on to college or military service.
Studies consistently show that undocumented immigrants who receive legal status move on to significantly better jobs, thus broadening the tax base. In one example, the U.S. Department of Labor found that the wages of immigrants legalized under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 had increased by roughly 15 percent five years later.
While there is a host of moral reasons why we should help undocumented students legally pursue their dreams in college and beyond, the financial benefits alone seem sufficient to warrant a serious discussion on the merits of the DREAM Act. And at a time when our economy is desperately seeking solace in every possibility of stimulus, the gains here are too inviting to ignore, and these students’ dreams too promising to pass up.

U.S. Rep. Michael M. Honda, D-Calif., is a former teacher, principal, and school board member, and is the chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
Vol. 28