Lessons from the (forgotten) Dream Act

A radio interview from this week's "This American Life" brings us back to the forgotten Dream Act, which failed in 2007. Listen to it. The 20 minute interview with Martha, who lives in immigration limbo, is worth more than 20 encylopedias.

she's exactly the kind of kid everyone roots for. She grew up in a poor, mostly immigrant neighborhood in East Los Angeles, where most people didn't graduate from high school, and nobody talked about college. But Martha got into UCLA. She couldn't believe it: UCLA.

http://www.newamerica.net/...

The interview was originally aired in 2007, but was revived this week. Just as the logic behind the Dream Act was compelling, so too is Martha's voice.

So why post this diary now? It doesn't have anything to do with the Obama-Clinton race that has absorbed our attention. But maybe it's a reminder that politics should also be about people like Martha.

If the logic behind the act was so compelling, why did it fail? Read on for the answer, but here's the punch line: Sometime between now and May 2010 the Dream Act will be revived. Don't depend on legislators or the president to advance this act on their own. Passage will require progressives to pick up the phone.

"They don't assimilate...they don't learn english...they contribute to crime...they bring disease..."...This is the usual litany of concerns that opponents of immigration reform cite. All this makes opposition to the Dream Act hard to understand, as the beneficiaries of the act were brought to the United States as minors by their parents, are assimilating into american culture, are fluent in english and have stayed out of trouble.

The act died in October of 2007 when cloture was rejected by a 52-44 vote. Interestingly, the act had bi-partisan sponsorship and support. It also saw freshman democratic senators vote no while senior republican senators voted yes. The act failed as legislators weighed the logic of the bill against the risk of being targeted by highly mobilized anti-immigration forces. Or as stated by a conservative website:

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Cloture on DREAM Act: REJECTED

Thanks to everyone who made the calls and sent the faxes and emailed the web forms to their Senators.

DREAM Act measure titled:

A bill to authorize the cancellation of removal and adjustment of status of certain alien students who are long-term United States residents and who entered the United States as children, and for other purposes.

Cloture fails in a vote of 52-44, roll call found here.

Our representatives heard us when we told them no amnesty to illegal aliens.

Put another way, there was no corresponding level of support FOR the bill coming from progressives.

Martha's story is not unique. There are 65,000 high school students that graduate each year that have similar immigration and cultural profiles. Keep the radar up on this issue. Don't forget about it. Protect the back of anyone that supports it. And get ready to pick up the phone the next time.

(Diarist's note: credit Douglas McGray of the New America Foundation for the interview)