DREAM Act, Defeated Dozens of Times, Resurfaces

The impossible-to-kill DREAM Act has again bubbled to the surface. Although multiple versions of the federal DREAM Act have been defeated for 12 years since Illinois Senator Richard Durbin first introduced it in 2001, the legislation routinely reappears. Now, according to The Hill, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte are in the “early stages” of drafting DREAM legislation.

In his statement, Goodlatte said:

     “As part of the step-by-step approach the House is taking to address immigration reform, Leader Cantor and I are working on a bill to provide a legal status to those who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children by their parents.” [House Republicans Crafting DREAM Act-like Immigration Bill, by Russell Berman, The Hill, July 10, 2013]

As usual with the DREAM Act, Congress is focusing on how to accommodate illegal alien children who allegedly were brought to the United States as youngsters and therefore had no control over their fate. Of less concern to Congress, if any concern at all, is the fate of millions of American citizen high school children who although academically qualified cannot afford to attend college or cannot gain admission because of intense competition from foreign-born applicants. Enrollment of overseas students rises every year and shows no sign of abating. With a fixed number of freshman seats available, the more that are given to foreign-born students, the fewer will go to Americans.

Since the DREAM Act would allow illegal immigrant students to pay the same in-state tuition rate as citizen children, passing a bill would hurt American kids since it would increase the pool of applicants. Many universities’ overseas students attend land grant schools into which generations of Americans have paid tax dollars. Penn State University, for example, has been a land grant school since its founding in 1862. Nevertheless, my grand daughter, now a high school junior, will certainly have to compete with students from around the world for acceptance—an insult to generations of Americans who have funded the university for 151 years.

Of all the illegal aliens entitlements, the DREAM Act—out of fairness to American children—should be the easiest to defeat.