Judging by the comments we've received here and other places since the launching of this site last night, there are quite a few people who don't know what the DREAM Act is meant to do. I get this. Not everybody has time to dedicate to reading the act, crossreferencing it with the Immigration and Nationality Act, looking up terms and procedures for waivers, blah blah blah. There's a link on the main page to the legislation, but unless you're able to do all that, you probably aren't going to be able to see the whole picture. So here I hope to summarize what the DREAM Act is and address some of the common arguments against it. Follow me into the rabbit hole, if you will...
The DREAM Act will:
- allow undocumented migrants who were brought here as minors to adjust to conditional residency status, and later to permanent residency status after completing the requirements.
In order to benefit from the DREAM Act, you must:
- have arrived in the United States before you turned 16
- have been living here continuously (i.e. no absence longer than three months at one time or 6 months total) for five years prior to the passage of the act
- be able to demonstrate good moral character
- be under the age of 30 (this I hope to get changed on the next version of the act)
- have graduated from an American high school or obtained a GED
If you meet the above requirements, then you will get conditional residency which will last for 6 years. In order to adjust to permanent status at the end of the 6 years, you have to:
- attend (and pass) two years of college, or
- complete two years of service in the military, or be honorably discharged
Now, let's examine the arguments against...
The DREAM Act is amnesty!
Not really, or if so, then only in the loosest since. It's hard to say that the DREAM Act pardons the beneficiaries for breaking the law when they did not actually, in 99% of the cases, make the choice to break the law in the first place. They were brought here by parents or other family members, some as young as a few months old.
The DREAM Act displaces American college students!
Not to a great extent. First of all, DREAMers are only a drop in the bucket compared to the total American college going population. The DREAM Act is estimated to benefit around a million young people, whereas the number of college students in the U.S. (as of 2004) was around 16 million. The estimate for DREAM Act beneficiaries is probably too low, considering that it is based off the statistic that 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year. Since the DREAM Act would benefit kids as young as 12, and there are also an additional 20,000 undocumented students each year who don't graduate, the number is probably higher. Even then, it is still a drop in the bucket, especially when you consider that many of the beneficiaries will choose to join the army rather than go to college.
So, while a few students may be displaced by DREAMers, they are also displaced by student visa holders and permanent resident students. Opposing one would logically require you to oppose them all.
The DREAM Act provides illegal immigrants with free/discounted/taxpayer funded education, scholarships, and grants!
The DREAM Act no longer contains a provision allowing for in state tuition to be given to DREAMers--this is up to the states to decide on their own. DREAMers will not be eligible for federal grants or scholarships. They will be eligible for federal loans and work study.
As for taxpayer funded, many parents of DREAMers pay taxes and once the DREAMers graduate from college, they will pay taxes themselves at an even higher rate than the general population.
Firstly, the Dream Act is not amnesty and it is certainly not a reward. Also, even if you insist, academic studies show that amnesty programs do not change long patterns of migration
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0070-3370%28200308%2940%3A3%3C437%3ADAPRUI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J
Also, no one is asking you or American citizen taxpayers to fund the higher education of DREAMers. Not at all. And neither are we living off your taxpayer dollars. In fact, I can assure you that some of us pay more taxes than the average American citizen and don't even qualify for deductions/rebates.
And please stop assuming that all DREAMers and undocumented immigrants are from Mexico. I am certainly not from anywhere near the continent of North or South America.
What 'terrorist' crossed the border through Mexico? The 9-11 attackers came legally through Canada. Do you want to block legal immigration through Canada too? No?