Verified Document

Dream Act -- Immigration Controversy The "Dream Research Paper

Dream Act -- Immigration Controversy The "Dream Act" is legislation that was originally introduced to the U.S. Congress in 2001 and in 2009 it was re-introduced after being co-authored by Republican U.S. Senator Orin Hatch of Utah and Democrat U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. The "Dream" Act in Dream Act is an acronym for "The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act." The Act is designed to allow young Latinos -- who are technically illegal immigrants -- to avoid deportation and become American citizens through a specific legal process. These young people were brought into the U.S. By their undocumented immigrant parents as children, but because they have never achieved citizenship, they fear the worst -- deportation. Hence, the Dream Act would allow Latinos who at present are illegal -- and who were under the age of 15 when their parents brought them into the United States and are under the age of 30 now -- to remain legally in the U.S. For up to six years if certain requirements are realized.

That is, those applying for and being accepted into the program -- there are about 65,000 individuals eligible -- will be granted a six-year "conditional status," and in that time they must serve two years in the U.S. military or attend a college or university for two years. After that, assuming these individuals have not committed crimes, they would be eligible for U.S. citizenship. Unfortunately for many of these 65,000 young people the Republicans in the U.S. Senate created a filibuster that defeated the Dream Act in 2010; ironically a majority of U.S. Senators who voted for it but the Republican filibuster required 60 votes to break it, and the 60 votes were not there.

First Political Perspective: Republican U.S. Senator...

In an article published in December 17, 2010, Sessions listed "10 Reasons to Oppose DREAM Act." Some of Sessions assertions include: a) The Act will be "funded on the backs of hard-working, law-abiding Americans" and will take jobs away from American citizens due to "…the addition of workers to the workforce"; b) the Act "provides safe harbor for any alien, including criminals"; c) "certain criminal aliens -- including drunk drivers -- will be eligible for amnesty" under the Act; d) the Act doesn't require any immigrant to finish college or complete military service; e) "…in reality, we have no idea how many illegal aliens will apply" and there may be 1.3 million "illegal aliens" eligible; and f) Dream Act aliens will have all the rights that legal aliens currently have.
In his introduction to the ten reasons he opposes the Act, Sessions argues that the bill "…incentivizes and rewards more illegality… [and] its passage will only encourage more people to unlawfully enter our country expecting a DREAM act of their own" (Sessions, 2010).

Response to Sessions: Clearly Sessions is wrong on several of his assertions. Either he is a bigot against the Latino culture, or simply opposed to everything President Obama puts forward, or both. He voted against immigration reform in 2006 and 2007 -- even after Republican president George W. Bush supported reform. He is wrong when he asserts: the Act will give safe harbor to criminals; American taxpayers will fund the costs; Dream Act participants will have the same rights as legal immigrants; and he's wrong that the Act will take jobs…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Poe, Catherine. "Dream Act: Mitt Romney still calls DREAMers 'illegal aliens' at Univision's

Latino Forum." The Washington Times Communities. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://communities.washingtontimes.com.

Sessions, Jeff. "Sen. Sessions: 10 Reasons to Oppose DREAM Act." Numbers USA. Retrieved

October 8, 2012, from https://www.numberusa.com. 2010.
The White House. "The Dream Act: Good for our Economy, Good for our Security, Good for Our Nation." Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.whitehouse.gov.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Dream Act and Its Implications
Words: 954 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Paper

Clearly, the provisions of the DREAM Act would be of enormous benefit to the tens of thousand of undocumented Latino/Latina and Chicano students already living in the United States as well as the needs of the U.S. armed forces, but the act remains in legislative limbo at this time. Despite some initial hope following the election of President Barack Obama that the legislation would be fast-tracked for approval, particularly

Dream ACT's Newest Proposal -- May 2011,
Words: 2036 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

Dream Act's Newest Proposal -- May 2011, Senate Bill 952 If Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun had somehow managed to make their way to the United States after World War II and had a child on American soil instead of killing themselves, the child of these hated foreigners would have automatically been an American citizen imbued with all of the rights and privileges afforded thereto. By very sharp contrast, children

Dream Act: The Development, Relief and Education
Words: 1031 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

DREAM Act: The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act is a proposal for a bipartisan regulation that deals with the tragedy that young people brought up in America have experienced with regards to the current immigration laws. While initial attempts to introduce this legislation can be traced back to as early as 2001, recent attempts have been fueled by President Obama's announcement of certain directives. In June 2012,

Immigration Reform Dream Act
Words: 1686 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Immigration Reform and the Dream Act Regardless of one's individual political position, a study of immigration in modern America reveals that the current immigration system is not working. Preferential treatment of immigrants from some countries over immigrants from other countries and preferential treatment of high-wage immigrants combined with policies of active deportation reflect a reality that no longer exists in America. The reality is that there are huge numbers of undocumented

Dreams in Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka
Words: 1434 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Dreams in Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka Dreams, the Unconscious, and the Real Self in the Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud and the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka In 19th -20th century societies, the prevailing philosophical discipline and way of living among people is centering one's attention to the 'Self.' The concept of the Self is influenced by the individualist society prevalent in Western societies. Indeed, individualism through introspection is evident in

Dream When Dreams and the
Words: 1078 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

" (Flanagan: 38) Theorists, scientists and thinkers have come up with their own views on dreaming. Dreams are considered "warnings," "premonitions," "announcer of good" and "indicators of future" as well. Many feel that dreams come from a divine power that warns people about the consequences of their actions or tries to put them on a better path by sending messages in the form of dreams. Initially it was believed that

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now