July 31, 2009
Senator Lugar: DREAM Act ‘critical to our economy’
Abraham Brown, Celina Weataherwax and Pilar Tirado welcome participants to a forum at the Juan Diego Center at Nativity Church in Evansville July 22. Brown is the parish director of youth ministry. Weatherwax is on the staff of Senator Richard Lugar. Tirado assists in parish ministry to the Spanish speaking. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
The first thing people need to know about the DREAM Act is that it is not yet an act, said Susan Brouillette, a member of Senator Richard Lugar’s staff. “It is still a bill.”
Brouillette was one of several speakers at a forum presented by Senator Lugar’s office at the Juan Diego Center, located at Nativity Church in Evansville. About 140 people attended the forum, which was presented in English and in Spanish.
The bill was introduced by Senator Lugar, R-Ind., and Senator Richard Durban, D-Ill, on March 26. The bill must be enacted by congress and signed by the president before immigration benefits will be available to qualified young people.
The second thing Brouillette said people should know is what the DREAM Act is not. “It is not comprehensive immigration reform,” she said.
DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. It is intended to benefit young people, “those who did not come to the United States of their own choice,” Brouillette said.
If the DREAM Act becomes law, an eligible person would have to have entered the United States before turning 16 years of age, and would have to be physically present in the United States for a continuous period of at least five years.
Under current law, a person who has entered the United States without documentation cannot become legal. An undocumented person who stays for a year or more must leave the United States for 10 years before application for legal status can be made.
Celina Weatherwax, another of Lugar’s staff members, asked the audience to consider an example of a person who was brought into the United States by his or her parents at the age of 10. Such a person would have to follow the parents, and have no say-so in the decision to enter the United States.
Such a person could go legally to public schools and graduate from high school. Some — not all — colleges and universities would accept such a student who might graduate and go on to a master’s degree or doctorate. But such a person would still be undocumented and therefore ineligible for many jobs or for any position that required a security clearance.
In other words, for such a well-educated, highly skilled person, “it would be a total dead end,” Weatherwax said. People need some form of regular documentation, she said.
In a video recording from his office, played at the forum, Senator Lugar stated that the contribution of such talented young people is “critical to our economy.”
Weatherwax said the list of corporate supporters of the DREAM Act includes Microsoft and Chase Bank. Universities in favor of it include Stanford and Harvard.
Under provisions of the DREAM Act, an undocumented person of good moral character could receive conditional residency status — if the student graduated from high school, earned a GED, or was admitted to an institution of higher education.
The student would have up to six years to get a degree, or complete at least two years in a higher education program, or be honorably discharged from the U.S. military services after having served at least two years. At that point, the student could apply for permanent residency.
The DREAM Act would benefit all immigrants, not only La-tino or Hispanic, Brouillette said.
In response to a question from the audience, “What can we do to get that done?” Weatherwax said, “Talk about it.” She said, first of all it was “not amnesty but a step forward,” and it would be good “if everybody know what the DREAM Act is.”
She said interested persons could form citizens’ groups or advocacy groups. They could contact their senators and congressional representatives.
According to a web site updated by the Library of Congress, the DREAM Act currently has 87 co-sponsors in the U.S. House and 23 co-sponsors in the Senate.
The DREAM Act was referred to the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Life-long Learning and Competitiveness on May 14. The last major action taken in the Senate was referral to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 26.
To find out more, the staff members encouraged the audience to study the text of the bill and monitor its progress at the site of the Library of Congress, http://thomas.loc.gov. Details are also available from Celina Weatherwax at Senator Lugar’s Valparaiso office, (219) 548-8035.