ON November 18, 2010, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) stated that he would reintroduce the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (“DREAM ACT”) as a “stand-alone” bill during the “lame duck” Congressional session commencing after Thanksgiving. The DREAM Act was first introduced in 2001 and reincarnated in 2003 and will create an avenue of relief for deserving children who have been raised in the US and managed to attain a high school diploma allowing them to attain their own dreams of attending college or joining the military and becoming lawful permanent residents of the United States.
Originally introduced as S.1291 in 2001 by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) will reverse a harmful provision of 1996’s IIRAIRA that denies States the right to determine who qualifies for in-state tuition. As most students and parents are aware, out of state tuition can render the college experience at State schools as expensive as tuition at some of Nation’s most exclusive private Universities. The DREAM Act will give States the authority to make such determinations.
Most importantly, DREAM will create a mechanism through which young people who meet certain criteria, including having good moral character and having lived in the US for at least five years preceding the Act’s passage, may apply to “adjust status” or become lawful permanent residents of the United States.
Senator Reid has long championed the DREAM ACT, and recently attempted to include it in the Defense authorization bill, as enactment of the bill into law would improve the nation’s military preparedness. Moreover, research has shown that providing legal status for people who have striven for and achieved success in the US would contribute to improving the economic conditions in the US as well. With High School graduation as a an incentive to attaining legal status in the US, fewer foreign born children would drop out of school than in the past, where lack of legal status imposed an enormous barrier to admission and obtaining student loans for college. Promoters of this long-overdue bill hope that members of Congress will be swayed by the cases of many minor aliens who had come to the US at tender ages with their parents or other adults, without any choice in the matter, and had performed well in school, but had no chance to ever adjust their status or attend college.
Before it becomes a reality, the DREAM Act must pass in the Senate, pass in the House and be signed into law by the President. As for now, students in the United States who feared that attending college in the US was an impossibility should remain hopeful. A chance to attend college at one of this nation’s fine institutions and live the American dream may be just around the corner.
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Daniel P. Hanlon is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law and a principal of Hanlon Law Group, PC, located at 225 S. Lake Ave., 11th Floor in Pasadena, California; tel. No. (626) 585-8005. Hanlon Law Group, PC is a “full-service Immigration Law firm.” E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and www.hanlonlawgroup.com
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