Beltway Happenings  
July 21, 2010--Officials and activists addressed a DREAM Act mock graduation ceremony at Lutheran Church of the Reformation several blocks from the Capitol.  The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), first introduced in Congress in 2001, would provide a pathway to legal status for undocumented students. 
Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America's Voice, speaks at the graduation ceremony. 

Afterwards students had pizza and then marched to Capitol Hill to lobby for the legislation; several were arrested for disorderly conduct in the Hart Senate Office Building. 

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a group which seeks to "defend and advance the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their family members" describes the DREAM Act as:

"bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children and who have since grown up here, stayed in school, and kept out of trouble."

According to NILC,

"Without this important piece of legislation, we risk losing future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other vital contributors to our communities."

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group which seeks to stop illegal immigration, describes the DREAM Act as:

"a broad amnesty measure disguised as an educational initiative that would allow millions of illegal aliens under the age of 35 who meet a very loose definition of 'student' or serve in the military to qualify for green cards.  The DREAM Act also allows states to grant in-state tuition benefits for illegal aliens, displacing legal residents competing for a fixed number of college admission slots and taxpayer subsidies."

Copyright © 2010  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. All rights reserved.
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