And Now, a Comment on the DREAM Act

During the weeks that dreamacttexas was in hibernation, many things happened. For one, 500 DREAMers went to Washington to stage a graduation - to show the country that they count, they graduate, they are educated, and they need the DREAM Act NOW.

It is looking like the DREAM Act is going to be attached to Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which is not a good thing... makes the chances of it passing much less. All we need is to get Senator Sessions going again, and he'll put on his Huck Finn suit and give a great show on the floor of the Senate--- getting even more Minute Men types upset that "these illegals are taking away our resources"

Mark Twain was much more intelligent than Sessions. Even though Twain had a mostly Southern mentality, he would have agreed that DREAMers need to be free to use their education and contribute to our country. Maybe Twain's ghost will come down and whisper in Sessions' ear... you never know what will happen. There may be a miracle.

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The New York Times

Editorial

June 24, 2009 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Graduation Dreams

We were caught between exhilaration and despair on Tuesday as we watched more than 500 young people in caps and gowns gather in a park a few steps from the United States Capitol. It was a graduation, but it wasn't. There were awards, but no diplomas. And while there was talk of bright futures, the speeches were threaded with notes of impatience and defiance and made clear that those hopes were in no way assured.

That is because all of the students are in this country illegally. They were rallying to support the Dream Act, a bill in Congress that would open a path to citizenship for undocumented high school graduates who complete two years of college or military service.

These students came here as minors, hitched to their parents' aspirations for a better life. But once they graduated from high school, they found their choices restricted to the same dead-end jobs and shadowed lives that their parents live.

The Dream Act, their best hope, has languished since it was first introduced in 2001, welded in recent years to comprehensive immigration reform bills that have gone nowhere. The all-or-nothing comprehensive strategy holds that if a bipartisan immigration bill doesn't contain the right mix of sweeteners like the Dream Act to offset hard-line enforcement measures, it won't attract enough votes to pass.

That strategy hasn't worked but backers are hoping that President Obama will lead the way. The youthful grass-roots advocates from more than a dozen states who rallied on Tuesday share that hope, but they also know they are running out of time. They are getting older, and their window of eligibility for relief is closing.

One speaker, Walter Lara, 23, who graduated from college with honors, was caught by immigration in Miami. He is scheduled to be deported to Buenos Aires on July 6.

Just to talk with him and his fellow advocates who came up with him from Florida is to see an inspiring wealth of potential -- with no place to go. They are from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru. They all went to community college. But because they are here illegally, they got no financial aid or in-state tuition (they paid $800 per class, instead of $250) or loans or work-study jobs.

They want to go into international relations, psychology, chemistry, engineering, mass communications, political science. But one is a handyman; the others work in restaurants and as church volunteers. The drive to Washington took them 18 hours. They looked tired, solemn, defiant, hopeful in the way young people have that banishes cynicism. They seemed incredulous that a message they grew up with -- work hard, stay in school, study and you will succeed -- does not apply to them. link to editorial

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