FOR thousands of undocumented young people who are still hoping to legalize their status in the US, the dream died on Tuesday, September 21, following the rejection of a defense spending bill in the Senate by the Republicans.
Introduced in 2001 and revived in 2003, “The DREAM (Development, Relief, Education for Alien Minors) Act allows young people to become legal US residents after spending two years in college or the military. It applies to those who were under 16 when they arrived in the US, have been in the country at least five years and have a diploma from a US high school or the equivalent,” says a report from the Associated Press.
“Democrats failed to get a single Republican to help them reach the 60 votes needed to move forward on the defense bill and attach the DREAM Act as an amendment. The vote was 56-43,” according to the same report.
Even Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) voted to block the bill, but with a procedural move that will allow the bill to be revived later.
In a report from Asian Journal on October 2009, Sen. Reid said that the DREAM Act will become part of a reform package that aims to improve immigration laws in the country.
More than a week ago, Sen. Harry Reid himself attached the amendment (DREAM Act) to the defense policy bill, saying that the DREAM Act has long been overdue.
He had hoped to get the necessary number of votes for the amendment, but to no avail.
Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrant groups have expressed their dismay over the rejection.
“We are extremely disappointed that action was blocked by a minority of ultraconservatives from voting on providing a path to citizenship for the roughly 65,000 students who graduate from high school every year without legal immigration status,” said Karen K. Narasaki, American Justice Center’s president and executive director.
However, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) is hoping to give the DREAM Act a second chance by reintroducing it as a stand-alone bill, only days after it was rejected. Republicans and other non-supporters of Reid’s attachment argued that the add-on had little relevance to the defense policy bill.
For undocumented Filipino parents and their kids, the rejection of the bill means losing the only chance they have to legalize their status and to pursue their dreams. They now face a life of uncertainty, one that does not hold a definable future in a country they have come to call home.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, about 65,000 students graduate from US high schools every year. Some of them are undocumented and have been residing in the United States for more than five years. Yet, they face limited prospects for jobs or further education because of their illegal status. More often than not, these undocumented students and graduates are top achievers in their class and have great potential to become nation-builders.
Given these undocumented youth’s capabilities, legislators should look beyond their parents’ faults. They should mull over the long-term advantages that come with providing undocumented students the same opportunities being enjoyed by those with legal status.
Undocumented or not, what matters most is that the youth are driven to achieve their goals in life – extinguishing that dream is perhaps, just as bad as sending them to the streets to become part of the problem, instead of the solution. (AJPress)
( www.asianjournal.com )
( Published September 25, 2010 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A12 )
