WASHINGTON Illinois' senior senator is not giving up drive to pass Dream Act despite opposition.When legislation to give youthful undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship came up five votes short in the Senate last year, it looked as though it was dead for the forseeable future.It still might be. But Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is persisting in his decade-long campaign, and on Tuesday plans to conduct the first-ever U.S. Senate hearing on a bill called the Dream Act.Among witnesses scheduled to testify on behalf of the Dream Act are Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Clifford Stanley, the Pentagon Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness.
Durbin secured an especially large hearing room with some 200 student supporters expected."These are young people who have that kind of exciting look in their eyes that they want to be part of the world," Durbin said on the Senate floor last week."But they can't make that first move toward the life that they want to live because they are undocumented," he said.Durbin's bill would give children of illegal aliens the opportunity to gain citizenship if they had graduated from high school and either joined the military or completed two years of college. They would need to be 16 and have demonstrated "good moral character" to qualify.
Durbin, whose mother was a Lithuanian immigrant, makes regular trips to the Senate floor to recount stories of young immigrants facing obstacles because of their heritage. Among those scheduled to testify Tuesday is the daughter of Albanian immigrants who was valedectorian of her high school class in Michigan and has been fighting off deportation.Durbin's proposal has proved controversial at every turn, with opponents arguing that it would amount to mass amnesty for lawbreakers and give public assistance to non-Americans.The Dream Act continues to be an organizing tool for conservative and other groups. In Maryland, a campaign is being waged to repeal state-level Dream Act legislation which has no bearing on citizenship but provides in-state tuition for qualified undocumented students.
In December, the Dream Act won 55 votes in the Senate but needed 60 to overcome a filibuster. Among those joining Durbin in supporting the legislation was Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (R) and then-Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., voted against it.Given the spirited opposition, it is unlikely that Durbin's legislation will get a vote this year. And it might not be able to survive an election-year test in 2012.But Dream Act provisions were part of comprehensive immigration legislation introduced in the Senate last week by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Some Dream Act backers view that legislation as perhaps their best opportunity.
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