DREAM ACT : With Weakening Provisions, Voted Out of Full Senate Judiciary Committee ( Oct 23rd, 2003)

BACKGROUND:
Long term US residents, the younger aliens (Who may have been children of illegal immigrants at any stage), were having problems with higher education. This act would provide relief and provide opportunity for higher education to the children.

STATUS CHANGE:

By a 16-3 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee, on October 23, passed S.1545, the bipartisan DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2003), with the restrictionists on and off the Hill failing to stop the bill’s movement. However, the bill passed only after a damaging amendment was accepted by an 18-1 vote. The amendment, sponsored by Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Grassley (R-IA), would change the DREAM Act in the following ways. It would:

Eliminate the community service option as a way to lift the conditional residency status. The remaining two options to lift the status are through two years in the military or two years in college;

Make DREAM Act beneficiaries ineligible for federal financial aid grants, including Pell Grants and Federal Special Education Opportunity Grants. Students would still be eligible for federal loans and work study programs.

Require DREAM Act beneficiaries to register in SEVIS, the system to track foreign students;

Modify the "retroactivity" provision so that DREAM beneficiaries who have already satisfied the education or military service options before the date of enactment of the Act would be required to wait an additional 3 years in conditional status before qualifying for full LPR status;

Clarify that the bill’s high school graduation requirement must be satisfied by graduation from a U.S. high school;

Add a new requirement for DREAM beneficiaries to list all secondary education institutions attended in the U.S. on the petition to lift their conditional status.

During committee debate, only Senator Durbin spoke passionately against the provision that would eliminate access to Federal Grants, with Senator Hatch remaining silent on the issue. While AILA is pleased that this important legislation has moved out of the committee, we are disappointed with the provisions amended to the bill and will work to strengthen the measure as it moves to the Senate floor.

ACTION REQUEST:

As the act moves to the Senate floor, PAKPAC requests members to inform and educate the Senators to support the DREAM ACT:

THE DETAILS OF THE DREAM ACT:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:1:./temp/~c108pXsarx::

SHORT TITLE(S) AS INTRODUCED:

Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2003

DREAM Act

OFFICIAL TITLE AS INTRODUCED:

A bill to amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to permit States to determine State residency for higher education purposes and to authorize the cancellation of removal and adjustment of status of certain alien students who are long-term United States residents.

SUMMARY:

Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2003 or the DREAM Act - Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to repeal the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on State residence unless a U.S. national is similarly eligible without regard to such State residence.

Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional permanent resident status, an alien who:
(1) entered the United States prior to his or her sixteenth birthday, and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding enactment of this Act;
(2) is a person of good moral character;
(3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
(4) at the time of application, has been admitted to an institution of higher education, or has earned a high school or equivalent diploma; and
(5) from the age of 16 and older, has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal.

Sets forth the conditions for conditional permanent resident status, including:
(1) termination of status for violation of this Act; and
(2) removal of conditional status to permanent status.

Authorizes an alien who has satisfied the appropriate requirement prior to enactment of this Act to petition the Secretary for permanent status without first becoming a conditional resident.

Sets forth provisions respecting:
(1) exclusive jurisdiction;
(2) penalties for false application statements;
(3) confidentiality;
(4) fee prohibitions; and
(5) a General Accounting Office report respecting the number of aliens adjusted under this Act.

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