Madame Lelica

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THE DREAM ACT IS AN ABOVE-PARTISAN LEGISLATION addressing the tragedy of young people who have grown up in the United States and graduated from our high schools, but whose futures are being circumscribed by our current immigration laws., Under current law, these young people generally derive their immigration status only from their parents, and if their parents are undocumented or in immigration limbo, most have no mechanism to obtain legal residency, even if they have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives The DREAM Act would provide such a mechanism for those who can meet certain conditions.

The DREAM Act would enact two major changes in current law:

  • The DREAM Act would allow certain immigrant students who have grown up in U.S., To apply for temporary legal status and eventually obtain permanent legal status and be eligible for U.S. citizenship if they go to college or serve in the U.S. military; and
  • The DREAM Act would eliminate a federal provision that penalizes states that offer in-state tuition rates without regard to immigration status.,

If enacted, the Dream Act would have a life-changing impact on qualifying students, dramatically increasing their average future income-and consequently the amount of taxes they would pay-while significantly reducing criminal justice and social service costs for taxpayers.

KEY FEATURES OF THE DREAM ACT OF 2011

the path to legal residency: who would qualify?

under the DREAM Act, most students who came to the U.S. at age 15 or younger, at least five years prior to the date of the bill's enactment, and who have maintained good moral character since entering the U.S. would, upon admission to college, graduation from a U.S. high school, or the granting of a GED in the United States, would qualify for conditional permanent resident status Students would not qualify for this relief if they had committed crimes, posed a security risk, or were inadmissible or removable for certain other reasons. Under the Senate Bill, qualified students must be under 35 years old while under the House Bill, they must be under 32 years old.,

Conditional permanent resident status

Conditional permanent resident status would be similar to lawful permanent resident status, except that it would be granted for a limited duration-six years under normal circumstances-rather than indefinitely.,

Students with conditional permanent resident status would be able to work, drive, attend school, and otherwise participate normally in daily activities on the same terms as other Americans, except that they generally would not be able to travel abroad for extended periods of time, and they would not be eligible for Pell grants or certain other federal financial assistance. However, they would be eligible for federal work-study and student loans, and states would not be prevented from providing their own financial aid to these students., The time spent by young people with conditional permanent resident status would count toward the residency requirements for naturalization.,

Requirements for removing the condition and obtaining regular lawful permanent resident status

At the end of the conditional period, unrestricted lawful permanent resident status would be granted if the immigrant maintained good moral character during the conditional period, avoided long trips abroad, and met at least one of the following criteria:

  • Graduated from a two-year college or certain vocational colleges or studied at least two years toward a B. A. or higher degree or
  • Served in the U.S. armed forces for at least two years.,

The six-year period for completion of these requirements would be renewable for good cause, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would have the authority to waive the requirements entirely if compelling reasons, such as disability, prevented their completion and if the student's removal would result in extraordinary and highly unusual hardship for the student or the student's spouse, parent, or child.,

In-state Tuition: Restore state option

The DREAM Act would also repeal Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which currently prevents states from providing in-state tuition or other higher education benefits without regard to immigration status. Section 505 requires states that provide a higher education benefit to undocumented immigrants based on residency to provide the same benefit to U.S. citizens under the same circumstances, regardless of their state of residence.,

Since Section 505 became law, twelve states have enacted legislation allowing anyone, including undocumented immigrants, who attended and graduated from high school in the state to pay the in-state tuition rate at public colleges and universities. The twelve states of California, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. These states all pay the Section 505 penalty by giving the same in-state discount rate to current residents of other states who previously attended high school and graduated from the state., Dream Act would repeal this penalty. This would not require states to provide in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, but would return that decision to the states without a burden.