You keep hearing that immigration reform is dead, dead, dead. But activists think at least one element of it can be resurrected. They are talking about the DREAM Act (it stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors). What it would do is grant temporary residency to some 60,000 young people who are illegal immigrants. Then they can attend college without having to disguise themselves, and pay in-state tuition while they are at it. Or they can join the armed forces. Eventually, they’d become citizens. To be eligible, they would need to stay out of legal trouble, earn a high-school diploma or general equivalency diploma, and get proof of having arrived in the United States before reaching 16 years of age and of having lived here for at least five consecutive years. The bill has been around in one form or another since 2001. Conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch, R.-Utah, was the original sponsor, and at least one other Republican, Kansas’ Sam Brownback, was a co-sponsor of one version. So the DREAM Act does not get an automatic "Nay" from the right. But it has never been brought to a floor vote in either house. At least not on its own merits. Last month it was made part of the broad immigration-reform legislation that went down to defeat so resoundingly, and so shamefully. A couple of weeks ago activists tried and failed to attach the DREAM Act to the higher-education act the Senate passed last week. Then they succeeded in making it part of the 2008 defense appropriations bill, which got pulled from the Senate floor in the fight over Iraq. It may come up again in September. Melissa Lazarin, an education-policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, says the DREAM Act was one of the least contentious elements of the immigration-reform bill. "People think this is a unique population," she says. "Yes, undocumented, but they came here as children and had no part in (their parents’) decision to be here." Juan Gomez, 18, came from his native Colombia when he was a toddler on a six-month visitor’s visa with his parents. They stayed, illegally. This past spring he graduated at the top of his class from Killian High in Miami and earned a near-perfect score on his SATs. He was set to attend Miami Dade College’s Honors College. But last month the law caught up to him and his parents. Gomez is now awaiting deportation. His classmates have flown to Washington to lobby lawmakers. Meanwhile, one has to wonder what purpose is served by deporting this young man. Yes, his parents broke the law by overstaying their visa. But why should Juan pay for the mistakes of his parents? And why should the United States deprive itself of the talents of a young man who might have gone on to Harvard or Yale but for his immigration status? Of course, not everyone who could benefit from the DREAM Act graduates at the top of his or her class. But all of them – by definition – would either get a start on a college degree or become part of the armed services of the United States. All that, and no mass "amnesty."
Roger Hernandez is a syndicated columnist and writer-in-residence at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His latest book is "Cubans in America" (Kensington).
