ASU students will gather outside the Tempe campus Memorial Union this week encouraging passersby to support the DREAM Act by calling their congressional representatives.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, introduced to Congress on Thursday by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., would put undocumented students on the path to legalization. It was first introduced in 2001 in the House of Representatives and the Senate but fell eight votes short of the 60 necessary to proceed to a debate on the Senate floor in 2007.
Durbin said in a press release that undocumented students should be given a chance to contribute to the nation’s future.
“These children are tomorrow’s doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen, firefighters, soldiers and senators, and we should give them the opportunity to reach their full potential,” Durbin said.
If passed, the DREAM Act would give undocumented students six years to complete two years of either satisfactory military service or postsecondary education. Upon completion, they could apply for legal residency.
Qualified students must have resided in the U.S. for five years before the bill is enacted, entered the country before they were 15 years old, graduated from a U.S. high school and have a clear criminal record.
Ileana Salinas, a physiology and Spanish literature sophomore, said she will join other students who are part of CADENA, which stands for Comité de Apoyo para el Desarrollo Estudiantil de la Nación Americana, an Arizona-based group that advocates for the passage of the DREAM Act.
“We want to advocate for this issue because not a lot of people know that there is no legal way for these students to become legalized,” Salinas said.
Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., said he supports the DREAM Act because he values higher education.
Undocumented students are “deserving and qualified students who want nothing more than to pursue their dreams to better themselves, their families and to give back to the country that has helped them,” Pastor said.
William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, has formed a national campaign to oppose the passing of the DREAM Act. The organization will deploy activists to lobby state legislators across the nation.
He said the bill would force taxpayers to pay to replace American students in limited seats in college with undocumented students.
But Daniel Rodriguez, a law student at ASU and a member of CADENA, said the DREAM Act is not a reward for undocumented students, but an opportunity to use their degrees.
“The question is why punish [undocumented students] when we can instead give them the opportunity to contribute to our society,” Rodriguez said. “Sending them back to their native country would be turning away talented individuals we have already invested in through their education.”
Rodriguez said the DREAM Act would be “an economic stimulus for taxpayers.” He said a person with a bachelor’s degree in the U.S. earns on average $60,000 according to the 2006’s U.S. Census Bureau, and contributes $11,564 of taxes and welfare annually. In a 40-year lifespan, a person could contribute up to $462,560 in tax contributions, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Rodriguez said the DREAM Act is not an incentive for more illegal immigration, because anyone who comes five years after bill is enacted will not qualify for it.
But Gheen said the DREAM Act would attract more illegal immigration to the U.S.
He said the DREAM Act would override state laws that designed to stop or slow down illegal immigration.
“Americans want existing immigration laws enforced, not change to accommodate [undocumented] students,” Gheen said.
Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.
