I’m back, but don’t have much good news to report. The Dream Act died a painful and very public death in the Senate on December 18th. Although supporters insist the fight is not over, the fight is very much over for the time being. I would be shocked if any legislation granting immigration benefits made it through Congress anytime before election day 2012, Dream Act included. As if the Dream Act update isn’t depressing enough, there’s more bad news: family- based immigrant visa numbers, especially for the second preference category, will severely retrogress come January 1, 2011. Although this shouldn’t affect anyone that obtains their immigrant visa this month, prospective immigrants that had interviews scheduled under the FB-2A or -2B categories in January or later will have a LONG wait before their soon-to-be rescheduled next appointment – approximately two years or so. Hmmm…any other good news? Not really, but I did read an interesting article in the LA Weekly (one of my local newspapers) about problems with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency most directly responsible for patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border and detaining/removing any immigrants attempting to the enter the country illegally. According to the article, CBP routinely violates the civil and human rights of undocumented immigrants, with the agency stepping in only when a certain incident becomes public or is otherwise embarrassing. Granted, there are plenty of good agents in CBP, and granted as well, they have one tough job – still, all agents need to be trained in enforcing the law while respecting the civil liberties of the undocumented. I suppose that in the absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, I’ll take a kinder, gentler CBP for the time being instead.
A quick update on the Dream Act – the House passed its version of the Act last night, and the Senate voted today to withdraw its version of the bill and shelve discussion on the House version until a later date. This allows the Democrats in the Senate to build up at least some Republican support for passing any version of the Dream Act once tax cuts, unemployment, and other hot-button issues are resolved. I’m not going to hold my breath for any Republican support, but given the sneaky ways in which Members of Congress hash out deal on the Hill, anything is possible. I think that if tax cuts and unemployment benefits come out in the Republicans’ favor, which looks likely, the Dream Act has a shot at passing, but we won’t really know much until next week. What’s almost certain, though, is that the Dream Act’s only chance of passing is in this Congress; once the Republicans take control of the House next month, I don’t think any immigration-related legislation has a hog’s chance of making it to the floor for at least the next two years.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) re-introduced the much-deferred Dream Act into the Senate again on Tuesday, setting the stage for its potential passage before the Senate adjourns for the winter holidays. The new version of the Dream Act has several components designed to appeal to Republicans, including the exclusion of applicants with one felony or three misdemeanor convictions, a cut-off age of 30 as of the date the law is enacted, a good moral character requirement extending back to the date the applicant first entered the U.S., and, perhaps most distastefully, a 10-year conditional nonimmigrant status, followed by three years of permanent residence before applicants can apply for U.S. citizenship. 10 years? Even though most of these students will be ready for social security by the time they’re eligible for naturalization, this is a much better deal than they’re likely to get anywhere else in today’s political climate. I say go for it - despite all these compromises, the revised Dream Act is a great way for the most sympathetic of the nation’s undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and eventually become U.S. citizens. Although I’d prefer that our immigration system not be a patchwork of laws, with one problem fixed here, another fixed there, I’ll take what I can get, when I can get it, for the time being.
