In today's San Francisco Chronicle:
DREAMing of a path to citizenship
Ruben Navarrette Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Main Opinion Page
Since the demise of comprehensive immigration reform earlier this year, I've been looking for another idea that would give illegal immigrants the chance to become legal but require that those who receive such a privilege give back quite a bit in return.
For a while, I thought this sort of thing would never materialize. In fact, you could say, I thought I was dreaming. But now comes the DREAM Act (for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors). The idea needs adjustments, but it's a step in the right direction. The measure - proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. - would give U.S. citizenship to individuals if they had come to the United States before the age of 16, graduated from high school or received a GED, and completed two years of college or military service. Durbin tried to insert the idea as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid nixed it because there wasn't enough support. Reid did promise to bring the DREAM Act to a vote next month.
It's the mention of military service that concerns those on the extreme left, who fret that students who can't afford college might be so eager for citizenship that they could wind up in Iraq. Meanwhile, the extreme right thinks that the idea will serve as a magnet for illegal immigration (as opposed to say, jobs) and rejects it as nothing more than - wait for it - amnesty.
As usual, both extremes are wrong. But to assuage some of those concerns, I think the DREAM Act should be tweaked so that students have to complete a four-year degree or four-year military enlistment before qualifying, and then they would qualify only for legal residency - not citizenship. Once they become legal, they should have to follow the same steps anyone else does to obtain citizenship. We might also add a third option besides college or the military. How about two years of national service in a poor community within the United States? If the point is to find some way for these young people to contribute to the betterment of a country that is about to grant them legal status, that would sure do the trick.
The specifics can be worked out, but let's not lose sight of the real strength of the DREAM Act. It's the quid pro quo of offering illegal immigrants a path to legalization but not making that path a cakewalk. It offers something precious - the right to stay in the United States legally - but it isn't bashful about demanding certain things in return.
Every single piece of immigration reform that comes along should strike the same sort of bargain. Those who don't want to accept the terms and take the deal can go about their business, and bet their chances with immigration authorities. But those who do will have demonstrated that they're willing to make an investment in a country that has already given them a lot and stands to give them much more. In return, the rest of us get a higher-earning, greater-producing legal resident who can contribute to society for many years to come.
Speaking of a contribution, there are those who don't seem to be making much of one in this debate. Far and away, one of the shrillest and most alarming arguments against this bill is coming from conservative Republicans who insist that enacting this sort of reform would somehow reduce educational opportunities for native-born U.S. citizens by forcing them to compete with illegal immigrants for admission to colleges, scholarships and the like. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., glibly labeled the DREAM Act "a nightmare" that would drain scarce resources.
It's official. The protectionists have no shame. We now have members of Congress who - after years of arguing that Americans are threatened by trade deals, high-tech workers and low-wage laborers - are trying to protect native-born high school students from the embarrassment of competing with illegal immigrant students and losing out.
It just hit me. What Americans really need is a domestic DREAM Act for our own kids - something to remind the little darlings that, if you want something out of life, you have to put something back in. If they learn that, they won't need protecting.
Ruben Navarrette Jr.'s e-mail address is uben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
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