Early in my career, I worked as a student advisor and higher education recruitment counselor. Many of the young people I worked with were undocumented, including a college-bound young man whose academic achievements and dedication to hard work made him a model student in everyone's eyes. He gave everything his all, and today he's an environmental scientist. He has a rewarding, interesting and good-paying job. And he is making his own unique contribution to our country and the world.
He understood what a privilege it is to live in a country that allowed him to get a good education. That's precisely why he chose to give back through public service. It's his way of showing his profound gratitude.
I think about him every time I talk about the DREAM Act -- legislation designed to stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents, by giving them the chance to either obtain legal status by pursuing a higher education, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces.
The DREAM Act has long enjoyed bipartisan support. It passed twice out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and was included in the 2006 comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate, with the support of 11 Republicans currently serving. In 2007, despite the support of 12 Republicans, including 7 currently in the Senate, a standalone version of the DREAM Act fell just 8 votes shy from the 60-votes needed to be debated.
There's no reason why it shouldn't receive that same kind of bipartisan support today. It's time to act. Now.
The president has long been a strong supporter of the DREAM Act, and was a co-sponsor when he was in the Senate. I was an enthusiastic supporter when I served in Congress. As Labor Secretary (often called "America's Job Counselor") I see important economic reasons to pass it. The Dream Act eliminates the barriers to higher education that often result in high drop out rates, which cost taxpayers and the economy billions of dollars a year. It provides powerful incentives to stay in school . . . and to graduate. Bottom line: workers with more education fare much better than workers with less.
But I'm not the only member of the Cabinet who supports the Dream Act. My colleagues do too, for good reasons:
This post also appears on the Department of Labor Blog.
Follow Sec. Hilda Solis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL
Rewarding illegal behavior, regardless of the wonderful benefits, is wrong. If you want to change the laws and make it easier for people to immigrate, I have no problem. If you want to change the law and make it easier to get work visas for this country, I have no problem.
If, however, you're telling me that our immigration process is not going to be followed by our elected and appointed officials, I have a problem. If you tell me that those who have worked for years to get here legally are suddenly going to find themselves behind those who did it illegally, I have a problem.
I personnally think the undocumented workers are being unfairly discriminated against by far too many people in this country. They are the main reason our food prices have remained as low as they have, and that is just the tip of the iceburg for undocumented labor in this country. That does not mean I believe we should reward them for their illegal behavior, though.
If I break a law I have to pay the price. They should as well - all of them. They have proven they can be good members of our society. Send them back to their own country. Allow them to apply for a visa like everyone else. Surely they have proven they are worth doing it right?
This is wrong.
NO AMNESTY
---------------------
this just fundamentally wrong.
wrong. wrong. wrong.
So no, this is not a winning solution for Social Security nor the baby boomers.
16 million Americans are out of work facing 6 million home foreclosures
11 million illegal immigrants are working in the U.S. illegally taking Americans jobs for half-price wages
July 2008, U.S. Unemployment Rate was 5.0%
July 2010, U.S. Unemployment Rate was 9.9%
U.S. deficit over $13.7 trillion USD ~ 20% of this debt owned by China
Not the right economic conditions ~ Not the right timing to reward illegal immigrant and/or their children with U.S. Citizenship
We need to HEAVILY fine those who hire ILLEGALS so the jobs for them would dry up.
It is "sensible" to think that ILLEGALS will absorb social services because they do! Go to an emergency room sometime or stand in line for food at a food bank.
It is "sensible" to think that ILLEGALS will commit crimes because they do! Just go to the jails or hand out with a gang some night. They are both full of ILLEGAL ALIENS.
It is "sensible" to think that we will spend tax dollars on ILLEGALS because we are! We spend BILLIONS of tax dollars on ILLEGALS in CA alone.
We don't need to "round them up and ship them back". We need to HEAVILY fine and/or jail those who hire ILLEGALS. The jobs for them would dry up and they would self-deport. Cost to US NOTHING!
CTD - go to any country that these ILLEGAL ALIENS come from and find out how their ILLEGAL ALIENS are treated.
BTW - ILLEGAL ALIENS don't "spend every cent they earn" here. A whole lot of that ILLEGALLY gained income is being sent back home.
We do spend tax dollars of them, yes, but they also pay taxes and social security. Depending on who you talk to, they are either a net loss or a net gain to the government's revenue. Therefore, the cost of their presence is a pointless argument, but consistently overstated by the anti-immigrant crowd. It has even been shown that Medi-Cal using whites use emergency rooms much more than immigrants. Immigrants only make up only about 3% of the prison population, compared to about 50% black.
Incarceration and fines are your answer? First, we can't afford our current prison population, let alone millions more. Secondly, fining them would get you less than the cost of administrating such a law simply because they couldn't afford to pay. Thirdly, any law that jails or fines someone just for being in the country wouldn't stand up to constitutional tests. The 4th amendment leaps to mind.
The bottom line is we have to deal with our immigrants in practical fashion. Take your fear and xenophobia and leave them at the door.
1. You have to be here in the US illegally.
2. To qualify, you have to be 35 (although there is one version that says 30) years old or younger.
3. You have to state that you've been in the US for a period of time and gone to high school here.
Questions:
1. How does one prove their age and their status of going to high school?
Are you just going to present a piece of paper? If you are going to verify, how do you do that?
I mean these people have forged IDs and other documents. Why would we believe that this would be any different?
citizenship - form one lane left