Slightly Altered by MTH

The American DREAM

Bearing Drift 10:17 AM ET, 11/28/2010

One of the many bills being debated in the upcoming lame duck session is the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (aka DREAM) Act which allows for undocumented (aka illegal) children to receive a path to citizenship (aka amnesty) who sign up for two years of college or military service. On the surface it’s not an entirely bad idea but would need some major tweaking before I would go along with it. Here would be my conditions:

1) Instead of 2 years it should be 4 years of college or military service. If the college route is taken then a degree in a technical field (i.e. engineering or science) must be pursued.

2) Signing up is not enough, completion is necessary. For the college route, a degree at an accredited university must be achieved even if it takes more than 4 years. For the military route, service must be completed without any dishonorable discharge.

3) After satisfying #1 and #2, the person will receive a H1-B visa and must find employment for at least 1 year.

4) After satisfying #3, as long as there is no criminal record and no credit card debt of $5K+ for 90+ days, then the person will receive a green card.

I’m sure some will say the conditions are too harsh while others will say they are too lenient. Given some of my family’s and friend’s experiences, I would say it’s just about right.