I like Ana Marie Cox’s take on the DREAM Act.
The “DREAM Act” would allow undocumented high school graduates with no criminal record who have been the country for at least five years (and who entered the country before they were 16) a form of “conditional” legal status. They then must complete two years of college or two years of service in the military. In other words, it’s aimed primarily at illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents who are now on a path to, you know, make a better life for themselves. Their illegal status is something that happened to them, their academic success is something they’ve earned.
You’d assume conservatives would want to rewards such self-starting, entrepreneurial behavior. You’d be wrong.
If you do a Google New search for “DREAM Act,” you find a bunch of web commentaries from conservatives hating on the bill. It’s a back-door version of amnesty, they say.
Well, they won this fight. Yesterday, Democrats failed to garner the 60 votes they needed to move the bill forward, yet more evidence of the importance of the 2008 senate races.
