DREAM a Little Dream

The long-debated Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act could be up for a U.S. Senate vote this week. However, it may not be in the straight-forward singe-issue debate some may prefer.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, is planning to bring it to the floor as Senate Amendment 2237, a bolt-on to House Resolution 1585, aka the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, aka the military budget. Durbin, et al., introduced the amendment back on July 16, but are now trying to get it to the floor this week. Of course, this has meant activist groups on both sides of the debate have started up their "phone your senator/representative" campaigns.

The bill allows the children of illegal immigrants to become permanent residents and move towards citizenship. DREAM advocates argue this means not holding the child responsible for the crimes of the parent, while opponents say it's just a backdoor amnesty. It really presents two paths to legal status: As Durbin said in his floor speech on the same bill in 2004, "it would permit them to become permanent residents if they are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years."

With three presidential candidates (Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Barack Obama, D-IL, and Chris Dodd, D-CT) signing off as co-sponsors, there's undoubtedly some political weight behind this version of the bill. As an interesting note, even though California's Barbara Boxer and Dianne Fienstein have both signed up, there's more Senate sponsors from states bordering Canada than from those bordering Mexico.