NEW YORK—Voices are getting louder for proponents of the DREAM Act, a bill that would grant undocumented immigrant children legal status if certain requirements are met. Dozens of youths rallied this Monday in Times Square trying to gain support for the bill, which is expected to be voted on within the coming weeks during the lame duck session in Congress.
The bipartisan act, which was originally introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2001 has been the subject of much debate.
According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), there are approximately 800,000 U.S-raised students who could benefit from the bill. These youths do not have legal status to work in the United States, which is what the bill is hoping to change.
Upon acceptance from college and graduation from high school, these undocumented students would be granted conditional permanent resident status. The student must be under the age of 35 and would need to complete two years of college or military service.
“A lot of dreamers have already graduated and are already professionals and because they don’t have their documentation, they can’t be nurses, they can’t be accountants, [and] they can’t be doctors,” said Jennifer Cariño, cofounder of New York State Youth Leadership Council, at the rally Monday.
In an online White House press briefing this Monday, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz clarified some misconceptions about the bill and answered questions from the public.
Munoz argued that the DREAM act children didn’t choose to break the law and called it a misconception that the bill is an amnesty blanket protection. She said the bill only targets a well-defined population, which needs to meet a variety of criteria, including a clean record and good moral character.
Additionally, the undocumented youths will need to have entered the country when they were 15 or younger, have lived in the United States for at least five years, and must attend college or serve in the military for two years.
Last Thursday, in opposition to the bill, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) released a list titled “Ten Things You Need to Know About the DREAM Act.”
Sessions said that since the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would have to process all the DREAM Act applications, this would require more money from Congress or force the USCIS to raise its fees for all immigration issues.
Additionally, Sessions said that, though beneficiaries of the DREAM Act need to have a clean record, any applicant who submits the application cannot be removed while the application is pending, including criminals.
Other opponents say the bill would allow the parents of these children to eventually gain legal status.
But, the process of parents becoming citizens would not be as simple as opponents of the DREAM Act make it out to be.
According to NILC, if undocumented students become U.S. citizens, they can petition for their parents to become U.S. citizens only a few years after they themselves become U.S. citizens. Further, NILC notes that such parents have to actually leave the country to apply for citizenship, and if evidence indicates that they have been in the United States illegally for more than six months, then they could potentially be barred for 10 years.
The New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC), a youth-led organization committed to improving access to higher education for young immigrants, called upon Mayor Michael Bloomberg and members of the New York congressional delegation to stand behind the DREAM Act.
The bill had a chance to be passed earlier this year. On Sept. 21, the Senate did not reach the votes necessary for cloture on the bill when it was presented as an amendment on a Department of Defense bill.
This time around, Munoz said the bill has an opportunity to be passed in Congress during the lame duck session, which will take place this week and into December. It is likely to be brought up as a free standing bill but it’s unclear who will support it this time around.
The bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, which Munoz said is never easy. Basically, the bill sponsors bring up the bill for a vote and an opponent will usually filibuster it by commencing an endless debate. The debate can only be stopped by cloture, which requires 60 votes for the bill to be passed.
Melissa Garcia-Velez, 18, is an undocumented immigrant who arrived from Columbia when she was 8. She said it wasn’t until her junior year in high school when she was told her further education was going to be limited.
“You can’t ignore the noise that we’re making,” Garcia-Velez urged.
Other stories were shared at the rally, including that of Cesar, read by another person to protect his identity. An undocumented immigrant, Cesar arrived when he was 5. Unable to fulfill his dream of joining the Army because of his immigration status, he went to college and is currently in his third year at the City University of New York School of Law.
“After 9/11, the duty to serve became more personal, seeing the brave men and women brought pride to my heart. At that moment I realized there was nothing else more important than committing my life to liberty and freedom,” wrote Cesar, who still hopes to one day serve in the U.S. Army.
Last October, at a forum in New York City, the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Alejandro Mayorkas said the effort to pass the DREAM Act would be addressed in Obama’s planned immigration reform. However, a date on such reform has remained uncertain and is further complicated by the shift in power to a Republican-ruled House of Representatives.
The bipartisan act, which was originally introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2001 has been the subject of much debate.
According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), there are approximately 800,000 U.S-raised students who could benefit from the bill. These youths do not have legal status to work in the United States, which is what the bill is hoping to change.
Upon acceptance from college and graduation from high school, these undocumented students would be granted conditional permanent resident status. The student must be under the age of 35 and would need to complete two years of college or military service.
“A lot of dreamers have already graduated and are already professionals and because they don’t have their documentation, they can’t be nurses, they can’t be accountants, [and] they can’t be doctors,” said Jennifer Cariño, cofounder of New York State Youth Leadership Council, at the rally Monday.
In an online White House press briefing this Monday, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz clarified some misconceptions about the bill and answered questions from the public.
Munoz argued that the DREAM act children didn’t choose to break the law and called it a misconception that the bill is an amnesty blanket protection. She said the bill only targets a well-defined population, which needs to meet a variety of criteria, including a clean record and good moral character.
Additionally, the undocumented youths will need to have entered the country when they were 15 or younger, have lived in the United States for at least five years, and must attend college or serve in the military for two years.
Last Thursday, in opposition to the bill, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) released a list titled “Ten Things You Need to Know About the DREAM Act.”
Sessions said that since the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would have to process all the DREAM Act applications, this would require more money from Congress or force the USCIS to raise its fees for all immigration issues.
Additionally, Sessions said that, though beneficiaries of the DREAM Act need to have a clean record, any applicant who submits the application cannot be removed while the application is pending, including criminals.
Other opponents say the bill would allow the parents of these children to eventually gain legal status.
But, the process of parents becoming citizens would not be as simple as opponents of the DREAM Act make it out to be.
According to NILC, if undocumented students become U.S. citizens, they can petition for their parents to become U.S. citizens only a few years after they themselves become U.S. citizens. Further, NILC notes that such parents have to actually leave the country to apply for citizenship, and if evidence indicates that they have been in the United States illegally for more than six months, then they could potentially be barred for 10 years.
The New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC), a youth-led organization committed to improving access to higher education for young immigrants, called upon Mayor Michael Bloomberg and members of the New York congressional delegation to stand behind the DREAM Act.
The bill had a chance to be passed earlier this year. On Sept. 21, the Senate did not reach the votes necessary for cloture on the bill when it was presented as an amendment on a Department of Defense bill.
This time around, Munoz said the bill has an opportunity to be passed in Congress during the lame duck session, which will take place this week and into December. It is likely to be brought up as a free standing bill but it’s unclear who will support it this time around.
The bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, which Munoz said is never easy. Basically, the bill sponsors bring up the bill for a vote and an opponent will usually filibuster it by commencing an endless debate. The debate can only be stopped by cloture, which requires 60 votes for the bill to be passed.
Melissa Garcia-Velez, 18, is an undocumented immigrant who arrived from Columbia when she was 8. She said it wasn’t until her junior year in high school when she was told her further education was going to be limited.
“You can’t ignore the noise that we’re making,” Garcia-Velez urged.
Other stories were shared at the rally, including that of Cesar, read by another person to protect his identity. An undocumented immigrant, Cesar arrived when he was 5. Unable to fulfill his dream of joining the Army because of his immigration status, he went to college and is currently in his third year at the City University of New York School of Law.
“After 9/11, the duty to serve became more personal, seeing the brave men and women brought pride to my heart. At that moment I realized there was nothing else more important than committing my life to liberty and freedom,” wrote Cesar, who still hopes to one day serve in the U.S. Army.
Last October, at a forum in New York City, the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Alejandro Mayorkas said the effort to pass the DREAM Act would be addressed in Obama’s planned immigration reform. However, a date on such reform has remained uncertain and is further complicated by the shift in power to a Republican-ruled House of Representatives.
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