I can guarantee one thing: The DREAM Act will pass. It may not pass this week, and it may not be called the DREAM Act when it does pass, but some palliative immigration legislation will eventually pass. While I have your attention, let me also say that gay marriage will be sanctioned, not just in liberal strongholds on the coasts or left-leaning pockets in the belly of the country. I'm talking about widespread acceptance of gay marriage. To all those who oppose the DREAM Act and who voted yes to Proposition 8, you've already lost. You just don't know it yet.
On July 2nd, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" as it pertained to employment and public accommodation. This watershed legislation was met with ample opposition. President Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation during his office, but the bill was stymied by threats of filibuster from southern senators. When Johnson resurrected the bill, his office endured 54 days of filibuster in the Senate before the bill was eventually passed. Of course, there was also the century of systematic discrimination and disenfranchisement of African Americans and the decade of concerted civil rights efforts leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Why the staunch opposition? Well, they didn't want Black America. Fortunately for us, that's exactly what happened. Everything that southern senators and their constituencies feared in the 50s and 60s has come to pass. African Americans have taken "white jobs." Interracial couples and families have become more and more common, blurring the lines of race and making those superficial distinctions less relevant. African Americans, no longer fettered by the constrains of oppressive laws (although still dealing with the reality of residual racism) have also had a profound impact on American culture in the last 50 years, in music, art, business, science, and, of course, politics. If you don't think America is better for it, then you probably oppose the DREAM Act.
Make no mistake of it: opposing the DREAM Act is bigotry. It is bigotry on the part of the American people and political maneuvering on the part of Republican senators intent on keeping acculturated Latinos disenfranchised lest they become voting Democrats. The difference is that this brand of bigotry is cloaked with policy positions -- excuses for forestalling a future in which America is overrun with Latinos. Whether or not the DREAM Act passes now, that future is coming. Latinos form the fastest-growing segment in the United States. As the Latino population continues to grow, we will become increasingly represented in Congress, which, in turn, will affect America's laws and how we Americans view immigrants and children of immigrants.
It's the latter group that the DREAM Act addresses -- people like my sister. My sister was born in Spain but raised in the United States. She is a published writer, an author, and a fiercely proud American. But she wasn't always American. The daughter of immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves, my sister lived under the pall of deportation until she was in high school. She was a fully assimilated American living under the threat of being deported to a country that would have been foreign to her. In fact, under the current legislation, it is possible for a person to be deported to a country whose language he or she does not speak. We can argue all day long about immigration policy. It's a multi-faceted issue that can be debated on many fronts, but if you support expelling de facto Americans on a technicality, you are sorely lacking compassion and, I'm sorry to say it, humanity.
No matter what you do, no matter which laws are passed (or aren't passed), fifty years from now acculturated Latinos, happily married gay couples and most other Americans will look back to this day and age and wonder how we could have been so prejudiced.
you won't gain any support by comparing it to the Civil Rights Movement and/or calling opponents bigots. People who have done so, and have thrown racist charges around, have devalued it all.
It makes actual bigotry stand beside things that aren't actually bigotry.
Why do some politicians hate American kids so much???
However we American citizens do get one thing out of it... the bill. Yup the democrats want the American taxpayer to subsidize their education while cheating our own American kids.
The Nightmare Act has no cap, no end-date and no enforcement. Illegal aliens merely have to claim — not provide evidence — that they meet criteria. It's simply a "mass ongoing amnesty". In the future any foreign family with a school age child can sneak in the country and enroll their child in school to obtain automatic citizenship.
Why do some politicians encourage this corruption???
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-3992
in reference to when the DREAM Act would effectively end. I recommend you carefully read Section 6 in reference to the application process.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/bdaved/dream-act-failure-undocumented_n_796728_70812675.html
http://immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/dream-act
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/dispelling-dream-act-myths
Contact your U.S. Senators ~ make your feelings known
Whether pro or con ~ it's the American way of democracy
What a fine American he turned out to be
Immigrant purchasing power is enormous—and growing: Latino buying power totaled $951 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to $1.4 trillion by 2013, while Asian buying power totaled $509.1 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to $752.3 billion by 2013. Since 1990, Latino purchasing power has increased by 349% and Asian buying power by 92%, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/just-facts/what-immigration-reform-could-mean-us-economy
Immigrants Pay More in Taxes Than They Use in Services Over Their Lifetimes: Depending on skills and level of education, each immigrant pays, on average, between $20,000 and $80,000 more in taxes than he or she consumes in public benefits.
http://www.aollatinoblog.com/2008/04/14/do-immigrants-pay-their-fair-share-of-taxes-you-bet-they-do/
The DREAM Act will allow our immigration and border security experts to focus on those who pose a serious threat to our nation’s security. Secretary Napolitano believes this targeted legislation provides a firm but fair way to deal with innocent children brought to the U.S. at a young age so that the Department of Homeland Security can dedicate their enforcement resources to detaining and deporting criminals and those who pose a threat to our country.
http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/01/get-facts-dream-act
No jobs for more than three out of four unemployed workers
Elise Gould
December 7, 2010
The 4.4-to-1 ratio means that for every 4.4 unemployed workers, there is only one job available—or for about every three out of four unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. Furthermore, when calculating the ratio of job seekers to job openings, if we were to include not just the 14.8 million unemployed workers, but also the 9.2 million “involuntarily part-time” workers, the ratio would be 7.1-to-1. The number of unemployed continued to rise by nearly 300,000 in November. Clearly, the labor market has a long way to go before we see anything resembling a recovery.
With so many unemployed workers per available job, it is no surprise that workers who have been laid off continue to get stuck in unemployment for very long periods. In October, 41.8% of this country’s unemployed workers had been jobless for over six months, the maximum amount of time a worker who has been laid off can receive regular state benefits. On November 30th, the federally funded extended unemployment insurance benefits expired. The EPI report A Good Deal for All shows that the continuation of unemployment insurance extensions through 2011 will create or save 723,000 full-time-equivalent jobs. The labor market currently is unable to provide jobs for more than three out of four unemployed workers.
Immigrant purchasing power is enormous—and growing: Latino buying power totaled $951 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to $1.4 trillion by 2013, while Asian buying power totaled $509.1 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to $752.3 billion by 2013. Since 1990, Latino purchasing power has increased by 349% and Asian buying power by 92%, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/just-facts/what-immigration-reform-could-mean-us-economy
Why add est 2.1 million more illegals to the U.S. Workforce
The (Un)employment Chronicles: Voices Of The Degreed And Jobless
Huffington Post | Leah Finnegan First Posted: 07-21-10 09:07 AM | Updated: 09-20-10 05:12 AM
More students are enrolling in college today than ever before -- a staggering 2.8 million signed up in 2008 alone.
But the job market is not so kind as to warmly receive the surplus of well-heeled graduates. The Economic Policy Institute puts the current unemployment rate for college graduates aged 16 to 24 at nine percent -- the highest number in 25 years. This leaves America's young people in the lurch, constantly searching for work of any kind, being forced to move back in with their parents and holding out hope that things will improve.
Read 10 of their stories here. There's Isha, who, despite having a master's degree and a White House internship on her resume, can't find a job. There's Mark, who went back to school in his 30s only to remain workless. And there's Samantha, who spent nearly two years of her post-college life in a Starbucks in New York City, applying for any position she could find on Craigslist.
By those whom desire & value U.S. Citizenship
You have my 100% respect
That's funny, there's a story about an illegal family in AZ, been here 15 years, can not speak English, had 10 US born children and are unemployed.
"expelling de facto Americans on a technicality, you are sorely lacking compassion."? These people pure and simple are foreign citizens. What is this squatters rights? You stay in the country long enough and they give you citizenship?