FW: ACTION ALERT - Calls Needed to Support the DREAM Act
Daniel Huang
Daniel Huang
Policy Advocate, Immigrant
Rights Project
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
1145 Wilshire
Blvd., 2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 977-7500 Ext.
237 Fax: (213) 977-7595
From: Belanger, Maurice [mailto:mbel...@immigrationforum.org]
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 12:58 PM
To: Belanger, Maurice
Subject: ACTION ALERT - Calls Needed to Support the DREAM Act
Date: July 13, 2007
To: Interested Immigration Advocates
From: Maurice Belanger, National Immigration Forum
Help Wanted: Call Your Senators to Support the DREAM Act!
With the failure of comprehensive immigration reform in this Congress, advocates have been assessing prospects for attaining partial measures. The logical place to begin has been with two pieces of legislation that have been reintroduced again and again in the past several Congresses, and have already garnered significant support. One of those is the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrant students. (The other is AgJOBS.)
The DREAM Act may be offered as an amendment to a Defense Department Authorization bill next week.
In addition to the information below, you can find more information on the DREAM Act here:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=878
Mini Civics Lesson: What does immigration reform have to do with the Department of Defense?
As a tactic to get around the kind of obstructionism we saw in the comprehensive reform debate, legislation is sometimes tacked on to unrelated legislation that is likely to pass. In fact, many laws are passed in this way. In the immigration arena, an example from the late 90’s was the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), which passed as an amendment to the District of Columbia Appropriations Act.
Your Letters and Calls will be Needed!
Below is an action alert from the National Immigration Law Center asking for help in advocating for the DREAM Act. Although the DREAM Act targets a very sympathetic population (i.e. immigrant students, generally brought to the U.S. by their parents, now Americanized, having gone through our school system and on their way to college), that does not mean this fight will be any easier than the comprehensive reform battle. Anti-immigrant groups and their right-wing talk show allies will spew the same venom against undocumented immigrant students as they did against undocumented immigrants in general. What do I mean? Check out the recent remarks from this right-wing radio host. After you’ve done so, please act on the alert pasted below! Based on our very recent experience with comprehensive reform, we know Congress will hear plenty from talk show listeners who will oppose legalization for undocumented students. Let’s make sure Congress hears from the students’ supporters!
But first, this amusing aside…
Amnesty: It’s all Relative
In the debate on the Senate immigration bill, opponents of the bill spoke harshly against the concept that we treat undocumented immigrants leniently. With all the fines and requirements included in the bill, it was still characterized as “amnesty” by opponents. Many in the Senate, and the majority of the American people, favored a measure of forgiveness towards undocumented immigrants who, in essence, were committing the “crime” of working without the proper papers. Opponents, however, would have none of it. In their view, all we need to do is enforce the laws. There should be no leniency.
One of the Senators who led the filibuster against the bill, David Vitter (R-LA), offered an amendment to strike the legalization provisions from the bill entirely. That provision, to him, was amnesty, and that was the bill’s chief flaw. (The amendment was rejected.)
Wellll… we would not be surprised if the Senator, when he emerges from his undisclosed location, is singing a different tune regarding leniency and enforcement. You can find out why by following this link to The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071001858.html
SENATE LIKELY TO VOTE ON DREAM ACT NEXT WEEK!
***IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED***
Friday, July 13, 2007
Today, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) announced that next week he, Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) will introduce the DREAM Act as an amendment to H.R. 1585, the Department of Defense authorization bill, which is now being debated in the Senate. The amendment will need 60 votes to pass. Its adoption would be a giant step forward for the DREAM Act, which would then stand an excellent chance of becoming law this year.
The provisions of the DREAM Act amendment are expected to be word for word identical to S. 774, the bill that Senators Durbin, Hagel, and Lugar introduced earlier this Spring. It would provide a 6-year path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship for individuals brought to the U.S. years ago as undocumented children if they graduate from high school and continue on to college or military service.
We do not yet know when the vote will be, and it is possible that procedural obstacles could prevent one from occurring at all. But regardless, it is imperative for all DREAM Act supporters to call your Senators and click here to send an e-mail message to them today, and again tomorrow, and again every day until the vote occurs. You can find your Senators' phone numbers here.
We expect anti-immigrant groups to spread falsehoods about the DREAM Act and to try to inflame their base to intimidate Senators like they did in the recent Senate debate about immigration reform. But DREAM Act supporters are passionate too. We can and must fight back and match their intensity.
CALL BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM
"PLEASE VOTE FOR THE
DURBIN-HAGEL-LUGAR
DREAM ACT AMENDMENT TO H.R.
1585
SO THAT IMMIGRANT STUDENTS BROUGHT HERE AS CHILDREN
CAN REALIZE THEIR
POTENTIAL"
Your Senators' phone numbers are
online at:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
To send an e-mail message
to your Senators please go to:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/NILC/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12129
What else you can do:
· Forward this message to every listserv and everyone you know
· Post it on blogs, MySpace, Facebook, or other on-line networking tools
· Call in to C-SPAN or other radio or television shows where there is some hope of a sympathetic audience (not anti-immigrant propaganda sites)
The DREAM Act in Brief:
The DREAM Act is narrowly tailored
It would apply only to individuals brought to the U.S. at least 5 years ago as children, who have grown up here, and who have remained in school and out of trouble. They could get a green card 6 years after graduating from high school if during that time they continue on to college or serve in the military.
The DREAM Act is not a "mini-amnesty"
At its core, amnesty is forgiveness for wrongdoing. That does not apply to DREAM Act students who were all brought here years ago as children. The DREAM Act rewards them for staying in school or serving our country.
The DREAM Act would benefit taxpayers
The DREAM Act would provide hope to immigrant students and lead many more of them to remain in school. As an example of the fiscal benefits of this, a RAND study showed that a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant woman who graduates from college will pay $5,300 more in taxes and cost $3,900 less in government expenses each year than if she had dropped out of high school. This amounts to an annual fiscal benefit of over $9,000 per person every year, money that can be used to pay for the education of other children. State and local taxpayers have already invested in the education of these children in elementary and secondary school and deserve to get a return on their investment
==============================
Maurice
Belanger
Director of Public Information
National Immigration Forum
Web: http://www.immigrationforum.org
http://www.communityresourcebank.org