Obama And Top Congressional Democrats Call For DREAM Act's Passage Before Year's End

WASHINGTON -- President Obama met with Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members Tuesday afternoon and told them he backs their strategy of passing the DREAM Act during the lame duck session of Congress. The legislation would grant undocumented students who were brought into the United States as minors by their parents a path to citizenship through higher education or military service.

"It is not the time to hesitate or be unclear about what we are fighting for," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) in a statement following the meeting. "We need the DREAM Act. I see it as a down payment on comprehensive reform and we will continue working towards comprehensive immigration reform today, tomorrow, and until it passes. But I will not pass up the chance to save a million or more children who grew up in the U.S., who know no other country, and who are threatened with deportation unless we act."

According to a readout from the White House, Obama also reiterated his hope that congressional Republicans will work with Democrats "not only to strengthen security at the nation's borders, but also to restore responsibility and accountability to what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system."

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who joined Gutierrez and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) at the meeting, advocated for including the DREAM Act with the National Defense Authorization Act. Democrats attempted to put the DREAM Act and a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell with the defense authorization bill earlier, but many Republicans objected on the grounds that the two measures were unrelated to the larger legislation. (The Defense Department has, however, pointed to the DREAM Act as important to helping the country "shape and maintain a mission-ready All Volunteer Force."

Voting on the DREAM Act in the lame duck Congress now has the support of the president and both of the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to bring a vote on the DREAM Act to the Senate floor whether or not it is included in the defense authorization bill, and Gutierrez said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.) has personally indicated to him that she wants the House to move on the legislation.

The push for the DREAM Act has attracted bipartisan support, including from Florida GOP Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Diaz-Balart, a co-sponsor of the bill, recently came out and said he supports a lame duck vote on the measure. Polling shows widespread public support for the legislation.

A Democratic Senate leadership aide told The Huffington Post last week that a decision had not yet been made on whether to include the DREAM Act in the NDAA.

UPDATE, 7:11 p.m.: After the meeting, Gutierrez told The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim, "[Obama] said, I'm committed to getting this done and working with you hand in glove."

Comments

[Oscar UCLA]

07:46 PM on 11/23/2010

Dispelling DREAM Act Myths

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/dispelling-dream-act-myths

[MrManny]

04:29 PM on 11/18/2010

Funny reading how racist people are on this article, did many of you forget your all descendants of immigrants, the people that live in the US before it was the US where the Indians. All you residents, born here, or whatever you want to name it are here because your great great great grandparents came here from ANOTHER COUNTRY, Please finish your schooling before starting to judge. What are the pros and cons of this, PRO the US will have more educated people, the military will increase double, and more jobs will be created. Now PLEASE TELL ME WHAT ARE CONS? Get out of your little bubble and realize that times are changing, we are all immigrants of this country and therefore no one should judge on who can stay or not? I do highly oppose those immigrant that come to this country to commit crimes and all those horrible things, but how about the one that want a better life? Remember your great great grandparents came here for that chance to have a better life.

[Emma2011]

04:03 PM on 11/17/2010

The weak and defeatist Obama chose to squander the sizeable majorities that the Dems held for two years and punt on comprehensive immigration reform. More than ten million undocumented immigrants and their families will have to continue to suffer because Obama refuses to fight for them. Only about 800k immigrants will be legalized by the DREAM Act, but Obama is indifferent to the plight of the immigrants and only cares about protecting the Dems from having to vote on comprehensive immigration reform.

[Alva Mahaffey-Johnson]

03:46 PM on 11/17/2010

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that only 22% of voters support the proposal introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). The Dream Act would have given legal status to children of illegal aliens who complete two years of college or military service. That low level of support is very similar to support for the “comprehensive” reform measure that failed in June.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of all voters oppose the Dream Act concept. Republicans oppose it by a 5-to-1 margin and unaffiliateds are opposed by a 3-to-1 margin. Democrats are a bit more evenly divided—49% opposed and 31% in favor—but Nancy Pelosi’s party certainly doesn’t provide a base of support for the Dream Act.

DO NOT BE MISLED BY POSTS SAYING THAT MOST AMERICANS SUPPORT THE DREAM ACT. MOST AMERICANS DO NOT.

Our President should focus on putting Americans back to work. That is the priority. Not righting the wrongs of millions who chose to break the law and enter into this country undocumented. WRITE YOUR SENATOR AND YOUR CONGRESS PERSON DEMANDING THEY FOCUS ON PUTTING AMERICANS BACK TO WORK ABOVE ANY OTHER ISSUE, ESPECIALLY BEFORE LEGALIZING MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO WILL ALSO REQUIRE JOBS.

[zeroesandones]

05:18 PM on 11/17/2010

funny thing about lieing.. is getting caught..
according to the rasmussen reports 52% of american voters support the dream act..

http://washingtonindependent.com/98160/rasmussen-voters-support-idea-of-dream-act

[rmarie]

09:50 PM on 11/17/2010

I wonder how they arrived at that percentage...who are they polling? Exactly what are the demographics regarding the sample? Because everyone I know, including legal immigrants and other minorities, are not for this.

[Alva Mahaffey-Johnson]

03:17 AM on 11/18/2010

who are you claiming is LYING? (not lieing, that is not a word). Are you claiming the poll I listed is lying? Because I'm sure you are NOT calling me the liar when I paste an exact paragraph.
Learn to spell THEN attack the website I pasted

[2muchlocomotion]

08:17 AM on 11/18/2010

Your data is from 2007,
http://www­.rasmussen­reports.co­m/public_c­ontent/pol­itics/curr­ent_events­/immigrati­on/senate_­heeded_pub­lic_opinio­n_by_rejec­ting_dream­_act

Whereas zeroes data is from 2010,
http://was­hingtonind­ependent.c­om/98160/r­asmussen-v­oters-supp­ort-idea-o­f-dream-ac­t

[Wong23]

02:27 PM on 11/17/2010

What the corporate power structure likes more than anything is to have poor people pointing the finger at other poor people as the source of their problems.

Bosses have used cheap, undocumented immigrant labor to enrich themselves and prevent American workers from demanding a living wage. If they put those bosses in jail, the undocumented worker problem in America would be solved. But they would rather point the finger at other poor people and keep us fighting each other. It's more profitable.

They feast at the table of plenty and toss a few crumbs to the poor and laugh at us when we fight each other for those crumbs. In the Jim Crow south, they pitted poor whites against poor blacks in sharecropper economy. Now they pit poor Hispanics against poor blacks.

Same old story, different exploited minorities

Conveniently for the corporate structure, we also have a war on drugs in America. Strong, angry, poor Hispanic and black men and women who want more than a few crumbs are allured by the lifestyle and often wind up dead or in jail. These are the very same people who should be in the streets demanding more. But they are too often silenced.

The working poor; white, Latino, African-American, in America need to open their eyes.

If we don't hang together, they will hang us separately, just like they have always done.

[rmarie]

09:58 PM on 11/17/2010

I think I've addressed you about this before, but keep Black Americans out of this. This is NOT our fight, and it bears no resemblance to our past and present struggles in this country.

And we've never been h ung separately. I don't recall any illegal immigrants being h ung in this country, but I do know that Black Americans are being purposely murdered right now by illegal immigrant g angs, and that they've driven Blacks out of LA. I do know that police are currently mu rdering unarmed Black men. I do know that sundown towns still exist. None of that has to do with Hispanics or illegal immigrants, and none of you are helping us fight that.

The only time people want us to "hang together" is when it benefits them. Any other day, you act like you're 2 degrees above us. Keep us out of it, fight your own fight, and stop pretending you know about the Black experience in this country. This act would not benefit the Black community, therefore we have no obligation to support it.

[Wong23]

08:40 PM on 11/18/2010

Funny.

My wife, who is African-American, is laughing at the prospect of me acting like I'm 2 degrees above. Like you she is smart, opinionated and strong.

Unlike you, she believes we should scoot over, and extend a hand to our Hispanic brother and sisters in our American journey.

[elcid66]

10:43 AM on 12/02/2010

You are wrong and uninformed. Obama is not getting reelected without Hispanics. Two, Mexicans used to get lynched in Texas.

[FairlyProgressive]

01:52 PM on 11/17/2010

that's right dem's spend your last few cents of political capital on this loser. America wants nothing more then legalizing a bunch of poverty spewing 3rd worlders.

Obama......building the mote of his 1 term a brick at a time

[Wong23]

01:59 PM on 11/17/2010

Lake Research poll shows 67% of Americans support the Dream Act.
25% oppose it.

Apparently American is not consumed by nearly as much anti-Hispanic bigotry as the Teabaggers

[FairlyProgressive]

02:07 PM on 11/17/2010

illegal is not a race wong, neither is poverty. maybe you should look up more stats

[Alva Mahaffey-Johnson]

02:39 PM on 11/17/2010

I do not believe those stats. You can get an idea from this blog, and you wouldn't find 67% of the individuals commenting to be pro-DREAM. I find the stats you continue to post to be misleading and not true.

Now, a more interesting stat would be how many AMERICANS would prefer OUR government focus on jobs over Immigration reform. That is the issue- jobs first. But of course, people who were not born in this country and did not respect the laws of this country wouldn't care about the continuing demise of its infrastructure. Our economy takes precedence over rectifying millions of people who broke the law.

[tdslf1]

08:36 AM on 12/24/2010

Your tag is "FairlyProgressive" and you said that shit?

[ThatsTheTheWayItIs]

09:51 AM on 11/17/2010

The practice of bundling legislation has to stop. DREAM deserves its own vote.

[monicaangela]

08:56 AM on 11/17/2010

How did illegals become "people who live in the shadows?" Why do we continue to allow our government to pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to a population of 12 million or more people in this nation...Are we to believe these people are living someplace undetected by local, state, and government officials? Let's face it, nothing could be further from the truth...Student who attend school in this country who are undocumented are found out immediately, parents of those students have to enroll those students thereby being brought out of the darkness as well. If anyone was interested in interacting with these people to help them become legal or to deport them it would be easy to do. Public schools in America are not allowed to refuse enrollment of students in elementary and secondary schools in this nation regardless of their legal status. This is a game that politicians are playing, why I don't know...but believe me, illegal families with children in school are not living in the shadows, their employers know they are here, the public schools know who they are and where they are located, and so does local, state, and federal governments. 0 ;-)

[meowomon]

09:46 AM on 11/17/2010

You don't know why the government is doing this? Cheap labor undercuts the unions and good American jobs. Good for business, bad for the middle class. Say buh bye middle class. Especially now the republicans have control again.

Did I say again? Hah! They've been in control all along. They got Mr. President by his family jewels.

[Eyeheartfreedumb]

01:23 PM on 11/17/2010

The gigantic middle class is (and has been for at least 20 years) a figment of our collective imaginations. There are a few middle class folks, but most are lower class, blue collar (or no collar) workers.
I've done better than abject poverty, but that doesn't make me "middle class"- - however, in a consurer culture television works to convince poor people that they have disposable income, the banks work to convince people that they can afford homes (even though they can't afford food), and the system itself works to convince poor folks that they don't have any reason to revolt, to rise up, to take back a small chunk of the wealth that has been kept from them for years.

[kevinbr38]

09:58 AM on 11/17/2010

Whoa Monica, you knocked it out of the park. F&F.
This democratic led congress, lame duck though it may be, had better shake off the laconic attitude of the last two years and channel their inner Pit Bulls, (just a metaphor dog lovers), and snip the A$$es of the repub nay-sayers in these last seven weeks. We elected you, Get the bloody job done....pull all-nighters if you must. Just Do It!

[tiredoldsteelworker]

08:44 AM on 11/17/2010

Please, please, please, make the attempt to do this now. The AMERICAN public can hardly wait. Bye the bye, love the link to America's Voice, why didn't they use a Red State poll. What a joke.

[GravitonX]

08:35 AM on 11/17/2010

Poor timing. We need to wait until Obama's 2nd term, which he will get. If it fails now, we won't get another shot.

[Paul Panola]

08:34 AM on 11/17/2010

Over 95% of all illegal aliens would be eligible since the age limit is 35 and it's not possible to determine how long an illegal has been here.

Nothing could be more wrong that giving illegal aliens the same privileges as U.S. citizens much less giving them even more privileges than U.S. citizens. Having taxpayers pay to allow illegal's to have a cheaper education than our own citizens is absolutely insane and wrong.

[monicaangela]

09:06 AM on 11/17/2010

The individual services have set the following maximum ages for non-prior service enlistment:
Active Duty None-Prior Service
Army - 42 (must ship to basic training prior to 42nd birthday) Air Force - 27 Navy - 34 Marines - 28 Coast Guard - Age 27. Note: up to age 32 for those selected to attend A-school directly upon enlistment (this is mostly for prior service).
Reserve Non-Prior Service
Army Reserves - 42 (must ship to basic training prior to 42nd birthday) Army National Guard - 35 (changed from 42 in 2009) Air Force Reserve - 34 Air National Guard - 40 (Changed from 34 in Aug 2009) Naval Reserves - 39 Marine Corps Reserve - 29 Coast Guard Reserves - Age 39.   0 ;-)

[Pennsanic]

09:40 AM on 11/17/2010

There are some upsides to the nation as a whole if this legislation is passed. Why not look into it?

http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/dream/Econ_Bens_DREAM&Stdnt_Adjst_0205.pdf

[wallyone]

08:25 AM on 11/17/2010

How about passing George Bush's immigration reform? It was his best policy initiative. Do the dream act now.

[Firehorsegirl]

08:24 AM on 11/17/2010

Many undocumented workers are white: from Russia, Poland, and other eastern European countries. Are you conservatives more comfy with their presence here?

[BoyReck]

02:50 PM on 11/17/2010

It's been well documented by credible groups like FAIR and the Center for Immigration Studies that European immigrants are more productive and intelligent than latin americans.

[andreaeveryday]

07:28 PM on 11/17/2010

Ever wondered why? because European immigrants get more opportunities.

[elcid66]

10:54 AM on 12/02/2010

All immigrants should be treated like human beings AND we need all of them. You, however, can leave.

[Vickie803]

08:13 AM on 11/17/2010

Obama is going to end up making George Bush and Dick Cheney look good. That used to seem impossible.

[GravitonX]

08:49 AM on 11/17/2010

I doubt it.

[Chubbster]

02:13 PM on 11/17/2010

Which? Making Bush/Cheney look good or "impossible?"

[ThoughtThrough]

09:57 AM on 11/17/2010

its fox news that makes obama look bad compared to bush and cheney

no one else anywhere would entertain the notion of bush being a better president than obama

[WarEagle2010]

07:59 AM on 11/17/2010

Dems Lash Out at Pelosi During Closed-Door Meeting: “You Are the Face of Defeat”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45215.html

Well that's so true. She is the face of defeat. That said, I for one am in favor of Nancy remaining as leader of the Democrats. She fits what's left of the Dems perfectly and more importantly she's the Democrats gift to Republicans that keeps on giving.

[Chubbster]

02:14 PM on 11/17/2010

If the Dems want to be hamstrung by all means keep Pelosi.