Philadelphia Immigration Lawyer Blog

On October 24, 2007 a bill that would grant Green Card status (permanent residency) to thousands of young students in the U.S. who are currently here illegally will face a crucial vote in Congress. The DREAM Act, which is sponsored chiefly by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and which has bipartisan support, would permit a select group of undocumented students to obtain green cards if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years. DREAM stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. It's a bill that should be passed.

The Senate plans to vote on October 24th on whether to allow debate on the bill to proceed but it needs 60 votes to do that. The vote is considered a litmus test on whether Congress can pass other single-issue, limited immigration reforms one bill at a time after it failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill earlier this year.

Despite some anti-immigrant rhetoric from those opposed to any immigration reform, here are certain facts about the DREAM Act: in order to qualify, the student must 1) have arrived here under the age of 16, 2) be under the age of 30 on the date of enactment, 3) have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years, 4) graduate from a U.S. high school or has obtained a GED in the U.S., 5) and either serve in the military or attend college for at least two years and 6) have good moral character. Once the student who otherwise qualifies for the DREAM Act graduates from a U.S. high school or gets a GED in the U.S., they can obtain conditional permanent residence. After that, the student then has 6 years during which they must enlist in the military or go to college for 2 years. Only after completing the 2 years of higher education or military service, the student can then receive his or her Green Card.

The proposed bill is hardly "amnesty" and would not lead to "chain migration". A student who qualifies would not be able to sponsor extended family members and they could not begin sponsoring siblings or parents for at least six years. Even then, under current law, those siblings or parents who themselves are here illegally would have to leave the U.S. for up to ten years before they could gain legal status.