The DREAM Act – legislation that would create a path to citizenship for a special category of illegal immigrants, those who were brought to the U.S. as children – won passage in the U.S. House on Wednesday but was pulled from a vote by the Senate leadership on Thursday to avoid defeat.
The bill’s opponents offered many arguments against passage, but they ignored the one crucial element: These young people did not come here on their own. They followed their parents, as they had to. Then, after settling in the U.S., they followed the law.
No civilized nation criminalizes a child’s innocent conduct.
And so, even though chances are slim that the bill will be reintroduced before the Senate adjourns for the year, supporters must not give up fighting for passage.
To let the DREAM Act die would have real-world consequences for thousands of struggling young people, many of them right here in New York. I say this with confidence because, as the president of a public college where many of those people go to school, I’ll see the wreckage up close.
Take Natalia (I can’t give her real name because that would land her in trouble), who was brought to the U.S. from Poland as a child. She taught herself English, made her way through high school and enrolled in Hunter, supporting herself by baby-sitting – the only job she could get without a Social Security number.
She graduated with a double major in math and computer science and went on to earn a master’s degree. But though a brilliant young scholar in a field underrepresented by women, Natalia can’t get a job – not even an unpaid internship – because she wasn’t born here.
Sonia came to Harlem from Ecuador with her parents when she was 5. She graduated in the top five of her class at Frederick Douglass Academy and was a double major at Hunter. Without a Social Security number, however, she has no legitimate job prospects in the country she loves.
Hector, who aspires to do great things in public service, was chosen to serve as an intern in the office of a U.S. senator – then rejected after the senator learned about his status.
Sometimes an entire category of students is shut out, like the ones who want to enter nursing school but can never be hired by hospitals – this despite our critical shortage of nurses.
College presidents across the nation can tell similar stories about their students, each one heartbreaking.
The DREAM Act is not some kind of blanket amnesty, as opponents suggest. It would simply give the estimated 65,000 young people caught in this trap an opportunity to apply for American citizenship. Applicants would have to prove they were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16; that they have lived here for at least five consecutive years; that they have graduated from high school or earned an equivalent degree, and that they are of “good moral character” – that is, in no trouble with the law.
Those who qualify would be put on conditional status for six years, during which they would need to complete at least two years of higher education or serve two years in the military.
The coalition that has fought so hard to get the bill halfway through Congress must not give in to despair now. Yes, the odds of success in the Senate look dim. But as long as even an outside chance remains, the campaign must go on – with phone calls, letters, emails, personal visits, peaceful demonstrations.
According to a recent poll, a majority of Americans favors passage of the bill. There’s real wisdom behind those numbers. It makes economic sense. It makes social sense. And it squares with our long-held national belief that every young person in this country deserves a fair chance in life.
Raab is president of Hunter College, the largest campus of the City University of New York.
