Education

The National Immigration Law Center has an updated list of colleges and universities that support the passage of the DREAM Act.

The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center has an online information center related to college admissions for undocumented students.

The Center for Immigration Studies has a detailed analysis of the estimated cost of implementing the DREAM Act, including the impact on education institutions.

DREAM Act Facts

DEFEND THE ACT WITH INFORMED KNOWLEDGE

You can fight the opposition to the DREAM Act with your knowledge of the issues and the scope of the proposed act. Do your part to stop the spread of misinformation.

The following are statements are counterarguments to claims advanced by the opposition:

1. The DREAM Act is a form of amnesty that will encourage more people to enter the country illegally.

COUNTER: If by amnesty you mean providing a blanket benefit to all undocumented individuals, then the DREAM Act is not a form of amnesty. The DREAM Act is not an amnesty because it benefits a narrow group of individuals who will either be college students or persons serving in the armed forces. At first, the DREAM Act will grant qualified students a 6-year conditional permanent resident.

A qualified student must have all of the following:

• Arrived in the U.S. at age 15 or younger;
• Lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years before the date of the enactment of the DREAM Act; and
• Completed high school or earned a GED.
• Is a person of good moral character

After 6 years, these students would be able to convert to permanent residents if they either completed 2 years at a 2-year or 4-year college or served in the armed forces for 2 years or more.

2. The DREAM Act will benefit students who entered the country after the enactment of the DREAM Act.

COUNTER: This is not correct. The DREAM Act benefits only those students who have continuously resided in the United States for 5 years immediately prior to the DREAM Act’s passage. This means that if, for example, the DREAM Act is passed in January 1, 2009, anyone who enters the country after January 1, 2004 will not be able to benefit under the DREAM Act.

3.The DREAM Act students will be able to petition for their families and almost instantly bring them to this country.

COUNTER: Under immigration laws, it would be decades before any family members could join DREAM beneficiaries. The only possible exception would be spouses who are not undocumented. And even spouses would have to endure a separation of at least 5 years before coming to the U.S. (taken from letter to the president with ILRC as one of the signatories)

4.Soon after the enactment, the DREAM Act ben eficiaries will be eligible to receive special welfare benefits.

COUNTER: The DREAM Act does not provide for any special benefits. The same rules—including a 5 year bar on federal means-tested benefits—would apply to DREAM Act beneficiaries as to all other permanent residents. Additionally, by virtue of their college education very few DREAM Act beneficiaries would require government benefits. In fact, the DREAM Act will provide a fiscal dividend because of the increased taxes beneficiaries will pay.

5.Can’t these young people legalize some other way?

COUNTER: If these young people could, they would have legalized themselves by now. Most of them do not have any way of getting on a path of legalization due to the immigration laws and regulations in place.