Seeking to breathe new life into its prospects, on Tuesday Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) chaired the first-ever Senate hearing on the DREAM Act. The bill, which was initially proposed in different form in 2001, would grant citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants who “have maintained good moral character since entering the U.S.,” and who either attend college or serve in the U.S. armed forces.
Three representatives of the Obama administration, a DREAM student, and the Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies were among witnesses who testified before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.
Ola Kaso, a student, testified about her experience in the United States, stating: “I wish to remain in this country to make a difference. I wish to remain in this country to help Americans . . . I grew up here. I am an American at heart.”
“It wasn’t their decision to come to this country, but they grew up here… they’re Americans through and through,” said Sen. Durbin.
While many of the witnesses agreed that children and students “bear no culpability” in their illegal statuses, they also highlighted the economic advantages of passing the act.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that, “the CBO estimates that passing the DREAM Act would add 1.4 billion in revenue more than it would cost,” which could go toward reducing the deficit. “DREAM Act is an investment, not an expense.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Under Secretary of Defense Clifford Stanley, and Duncan said the Obama administration fully supports the bill because it would widen the pool for military recruits, encourage higher education, and allow immigration enforcement officials to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Napolitano stated, “Passage of DREAM would help us focus our enforcement efforts on populations that pose threats to community, not kids who grew up here and want to go to college.”
However Senators Cornyn and Grassley, the only Republicans to speak at the hearing, were unconvinced by the merits of the bill.
“This bill, sadly, does nothing to fix our broken immigration system,” Cornyn said. “It’s a band-aid, and maybe worse, it will provide an incentive for future illegal immigration.”
“This bill does nothing for border security, workplace enforcement, visa overstays that account for about 40 percent of illegal immigration in this country. In other words, it does nothing to reduce the likelihood of further illegal immigration.”
This isn’t the first partisan struggle the bill has faced recently.
Senate Democrats attempted to renew a drive to pass the DREAM Act earlier this year, however it had little chance of passing on its own after failing to break a Republican filibuster during last year’s lame duck session. During the 2010 session, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) voiced his doubts about the act: “We’re not going to pass the DREAM Act or any other legalization program until we secure our borders.”
Yet support for the act gained momentum last week when The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Jose Antonio Vargas, came out as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times Magazine article. After learning of his illegal status at age 16, Vargas said, “I convinced myself that if I worked enough, if I achieved enough, I would be rewarded with citizenship. I felt I could earn it.”
Despite the apparent partisan divide on the act, Senator Durbin said he will continue to fight for the DREAM Act. “It is, I think, one of the most compelling human rights issues of our time,” he said.
To read testimonies from the Senate hearing on the DREAM Act, click here.
