What the DREAM ACT Won't Do -

For those who are not sure they will support the DREAM ACT, Durbin's office released the following:

The DREAM Act would NOT lead to “chain migration”. DREAM Act beneficiaries would have very limited ability to sponsor family members. They could never sponsor extended family members and they could not begin sponsoring siblings or parents for at least six years. The visa backlog for siblings is decades long and parents who are illegally present in the U.S. would have to leave the country for ten years before they could gain legal status.

The DREAM Act amendment would NOT repeal a provision of federal law that prevents states from granting in-state tuition rates to undocumented students. This provision was in an earlier version of the amendment but has been removed from the current version.

DREAM Act students would NOT be eligible for federal grants which do not require repayment. Those who choose to attend college and otherwise qualify for the DREAM Act would only be eligible for federal student loans and federal work-study.
The DREAM Act would NOT give legal status to 1.3 million people. While CBO estimates that less than 100,000 students will benefit in the next ten years, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that about 350,000 will benefit. A recent MPI study explains that while 715,000 students would be eligible, current high school graduation rates for undocumented students are at 50%, therefore drastically decreasing the number of students affected. Given these statistics, it is likely that between 100,000 and 500,000 students will benefit – a far cry from the claim that millions will be affected.