Overnight, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on his Twitter account that he will bring the DREAM Act to the floor during the lame-duck session of Congress. Reid remarked, “It's good for the economy & Pentagon says good for [national] security.” (Politico, Nov. 17, 2010) Almost simultaneously, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced two new versions of the DREAM Act (S.3962, S.3963), and then, by invoking Rule 14—which allows leaders to skip the committee process—put them directly on the Senate floor calendar.
Sen. Reid’s actions come on the heels of Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairwoman Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s (D-NY) announcement that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tentatively set a vote on the DREAM Act for as soon as November 29th, and President Obama’s statement that he wants the DREAM Act passed during lame-duck as a “down payment” for further amnesty bills. (Capital Wire PR, Nov. 16, 2010; Politico, Nov. 17, 2010)
OFIR members and supporters:
The DREAM Act is a stealth amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, putting them ahead of honest immigrants who have applied legally and whose applications are now in process.
Under the DREAM Act illegal aliens would be able to receive in-state tuition at state universities. In Oregon that would amount to a $17,500 per year benefit that would be unavailable to American citizen students who may have graduated from high school in Idaho, Washington, or any other state. After four years the illegal alien would have received about $70,000 in tuition benefits.
Passage of the DREAM Act would make American citizens second class citizens while elevating illegal aliens into a special class.
Below is a list of Republican senators who have in the past voted in favor of an amnesty. They need to hear from citizens who are opposed to another amnesty. We encourage you to call them. See talking points at end of this list.
Sen. Murkowski of Alaska 202-224-6665
907-271-3735
Sen. Lugar of Indiana 202-224-4814
317-226-5555
Sen. Brownback of Kansas 202-224-6521
785-233-2503
Sen. Voinovich of Ohio 202-224-3353
614-469-6697
Sen. LeMeiux of Florida 202-224-3041
904-398-8586
Sen. Collins of Maine 202-224-2523
207-945-0417
Sen. Snowe of Maine 202-224-5344
207-874-0883
Sen. Brown of Massachusetts 202-224-4543
617-565-3170
Sen. Johanns of Nebraska 202-224-4224
402-758-8981
Sen. Gregg of New Hampshire 202-224-3324
603-225-7115
Sen. Hutchison of Texas 202-224-5922
214-361-3500
Sen. McCain of Arizona 202-224-2235
480-897-6289
The DREAM Act in the 111th Congress; The Nightmare Is in the Details
[Fact Sheet by NumbersUSA]
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/files/DREAM_1pager.pdf
The DREAM Act has been reintroduced in both the House (H.R. 1751, by Rep. HowardBerman (D-CA)) and the Senate (S. 729, by Sen. Dick Durban (D-IL). Several cosponsors of the legislation have referred to the DREAM Act as a “narrow” proposal to deal only with the children brought here illegally by their illegal-alien parents. Unfortunately, the facts belie that claim. Here are the essentials of what the bills would do:
• They retroactively repeal the federal ban on in-state tuition for illegal aliens, so individual states would decide whether to grant this subsidy to illegal aliens at the expense of U.S. citizens and legal residents.
• They require DHS to award amnesty to every illegal alien claiming to meet minimal criteria: 1) present in the U.S. for the last five years; 2) a U.S. high school diploma or GED, or admitted to a U.S. institution of higher learning; and 3) of “good moral character” with no more than 2 misdemeanor convictions.
o The Senate version also requires that amnesty applicants be under 35 years of age and not be subject to a final order of removal or exclusion.
o Neither version requires specific documentation or other proof that amnesty applicants actually meet these minimal criteria.
• Once an alien files an amnesty application, he or she cannot be removed from the United States for any reason until the application is fully processed and a final decision to grant or deny amnesty has been made.
• All amnesty applications go to the front of the line for processing, thus bypassing millions of people around the world who have applied to come to the United States the right way.
• In order to deny any amnesty application, the federal government has the burden of proving an illegal alien’s ineligibility for amnesty.
• There are no numerical limits to the amnesty and there’s no end date for the application process.
• Amnestied aliens are required to complete two years of college or military service during their first six years of legal residence, but DHS can waive the requirement or grant additional time to comply for those who do not.
• At the end of the six years, amnestied aliens can apply for citizenship and petition to bring their extended relatives—including the parents who brought them here illegally—to the United States.
• Amnesty beneficiaries are eligible for certain federal student loans and work-study programs.
Oregonians for Immigration Reform, PO Box 1438, McMinnville OR 97128
Website: http://www.oregonir.org/ ; Email: ofir@oregonir.org
Keep OFIR emails coming. Please add ofir@oregonir.org to your address book.
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