Dream on? Immigration Bill Rouses spirited debate. Act causes opposition - News Debate - Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors DREAM

0 Comments | Current Events, Jan 23, 2004

WHEN YESENIA SANCHEZ'S parents left Mexico and slipped across the border into the United States in 1991, they wanted to build a better life for Yesenia, then 8.

Today, Yesenia, 20, is living their dream. She is going to college. But when Yesenia graduates, finding a job maybe impossible for her. Why? Yesenia is an undocumented immigrant. She and her family live in the United States illegally. If authorities find them, they could be deported.

Yesenia and other undocumented students are braving deportation to support a bill that could change their lives. Called the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, the bill would let certain illegal immigrant students become legal, permanent residents of the United States.

The bill would apply to 12- to 21-year-olds who have lived in the United States illegally for at least five years and have graduated from a U.S. high school or are attending college in the United States. The bill would expire after six years.

For Yesenia and thousands of others, the bill's passage would be a dream come true. But DREAM Act critics say the bill is nothing but a nightmare.

Americans Come First

More than 7 million immigrants live in this country illegally, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Giving those people legal status would lead to even more illegal immigration, critics say.

"An amnesty rewards illegal immigrants and sends the message to future illegal immigrants that they can sneak in ... and eventually get their green cards [working permits]," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, in Washington, D.C.

Critics argue that the bill would allow more illegal immigrants to go to college and get jobs hi the United States--limiting opportunities for American citizens.

"Supporters of this bill are unabashedly placing the interests of illegal aliens above [those of] American families," argued Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Plus, critics say, it isn't the U.S. government's fault that undocumented students are in this position. "These are situations their parents put them in," FAIR spokesperson Ira Mehlman said.

American at Heart

Like it or not, the 50,000 to 65,000 illegal immigrants who graduate from U.S. high schools each year aren't going to disappear, the bill's supporters say.

"Most of them don't know any other language than English and no other country than ours," explained Judy Golub of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Some undocumented teens say they shouldn't be punished for their parents' actions. "We are just normal people ... trying to get by in life," explained Marie Gonzalez, 17, who has lived in the United States since she was 5.

Juliana Huicochea, 18, who has lived here since she was 4, can't imagine life anywhere else. "My whole family is here. This is where my education is, my dreams, my goals."

Should Congress pass the DREAM Act? Why or why not?

U.S. Census Bureau

Sometimes nicknamed "America's Fact Finder," the U.S. Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce. Every tan years, the bureau puts together an official count of the U.S. population. The government uses that information to determine population trends. Although the bureau became a permanent institution in 1902, the first U.S. census was taken in 1790, conducted by U.S. marshals on horseback.