October 24, 2007

'Dream Act' Fails to Get Enough Votes for Senate Debate

Washington — Legislation that would have provided a path to legal residency for some illegal immigrants and made them eligible for federal student-loan and work-study programs failed to get enough votes in the U.S. Senate today to receive further consideration on the floor.

Advocates of the legislation, S 2205, needed 60 votes to begin debate. They fell eight votes short, with a tally of 52 to 44.

The vote is likely to herald the end of Congressional debate on major immigration issues for the year, the Associated Press reported.

The bill, known as the Dream Act, does not include provisions to repeal a 1996 federal immigration law that has served as a basis for legal challenges to several state laws that extend in-state tuition rates to some students who entered the United States illegally but who graduated from those states’ high schools.

But it would open up the federal student-loan and work-study programs to immigrants who entered the United States illegally when they were under 16 and who have lived in the country for at least five years, have graduated from an American high school, and have been enrolled for at least two years in college or the military. —Sara Hebel

Comments

1. Actually, this was a vote on cloture, not a vote “to begin debate.” The democrats wanted to cut off debate before it even started, and the senators in favor of a democratic debate prevented them from avoiding discussion.

   — Don DeVaughn    Oct 24, 03:30 PM    #

2. Thank God it failed!

   — Tay Lee    Oct 24, 03:33 PM    #

3. Dream? More like NIGHTMARE.

   Why would we want to “open up the federal student-loan and work-study programs to immigrants who entered the United States illegally” when there isn’t enough in these programs for our own citizens?

   How insane are the Democrats?

   — TRB    Oct 24, 03:52 PM    #

4. Don,

   It was essentially a vote to begin debate. If they can’t get cloture, then it would be filibustered to death. I also don’t understand your last statement about senators in favor of a democratic debate preventing them from avoiding discussion! What are you trying to say?

   — Lindsey    Oct 24, 03:57 PM    #

5. Yes, once again, fear and racism prevail. Heaven forbid that these children get the advantages the rest of us have had, virtually all of whom came from immigrant families at one time or another. And before someone says “illegal,” immigration methods have not changed, only the laws have. My great-great-grandparents didn’t have all sorts of official paperwork when they arrived, and neither did anyone else’s, but now that’s “illegal.”

   If “illegal” aliens looked and sounded like Americans, this would be a non-story. But instead, let’s create a permanent non-white underclass.

   — DS    Oct 24, 04:03 PM    #

6. My God, they don’t even want to begin a debate. How long will our government prevent any progress on this crucial issue? How long will they prevent implementing a mechanism for protecting all of our people, documented and undocumented alike? What are they waiting for…violence? Have they become so accustomed to war that they will not act until we have another one?

   — kgotthardt    Oct 24, 04:07 PM    #

7. What a shame this is for individuals who actually want to better themselves through higher education or by helping defend this country. That’s more than many actual U.S. citizens do. It’s unfortunate that through no fault of their own, these kids have grown up in the U.S. and will be denied the right to pursue a better future.

   — KC    Oct 24, 04:19 PM    #

8. I have a substitute bill that should get through: If someone breaks into a house and steals things and then he and his family show good faith by moving in for at least five years, the homeowner has to put the housebreaker’s children through college. That is so obviously fair that I can’t imagine even far-right Republicans opposing it!

   — S. Britchky    Oct 24, 04:19 PM    #

9. TRB, They are not that insane. Illegal entrants working with false ID pay into the SS system and that is why the politicos can go to the SS surplus and use it in other pet/pork projects

   — BNicometo    Oct 24, 04:20 PM    #

10. Actually, these are “our own” students, citizens or not. They have been in our country for much of their lives, and had no choice in the immigration decisions of their parents. They are being educated in our K-12 schools and, to a lesser extent, colleges and universities already. If we do not educate them, they will stay shut off from mainstream society, keeping them from becoming citizens and being as productive as they could be in our society.

    — Brad G.    Oct 24, 04:34 PM    #

11. These “illegals” didn’t chose to come here—they were brought here by their parents. US taxpayers have spent maybe $100,000 on their pub. ed. over 12 years. And you balk at helping them go to college? I guess you’d rather they make less money and pay fewer taxes? Or you would prefer a police state to round them up? Quit burying your heads in the sand…..

    — JR    Oct 24, 04:36 PM    #

12. It is outrageous that such a bill even gets written by a representative ofour citizenry. Would he dare propose it as a foreign aid measure…do we have money to provide college for students of other courntries?

    — D. Burkhalter    Oct 24, 05:26 PM    #

13. To KC, It is unfortunate that through no fault of their own, these kids have grown up in the U.S. and will be denied the right to pursue a better future, but the US does have immigration laws and unless we change them, we can’t let the whole world into the country and support them. Even though big business may like the cheap labor illegal immigration brings us, it is costing all of us a lot more than if we paid our own citizens more to do these jobs. Also, there are folks waiting in line doing it the right way to get immigrate into this country.

    — DG    Oct 24, 05:44 PM    #

14. S. Britchky,

    I think the house metaphor needs to be modified a bit. We are really talking about a man who owns a house with more space than he can possibly ever use and enough money to go to war but not educate his own kids. This gentleman needs someone to clean his house but won’t pay a wage that is livable by US standards and hires, whether knowingly or unknowingly, an undocumented immigrant. In the end, he really doesn’t give a flip that there is not a fair or efficient system to bring in the labor he needs. The status quo helps him retain wealth and the worker pays a bit of money to the US government to boot. The child of that undocumented immigrant never had a say in the matter. A small investment would help the child to become a productive member of the US economy. Perhaps when the owner is tired of war and has exploited enough cheap labor, he’ll put his money into human capital that will actually benefit the US.

    — SG    Oct 24, 05:44 PM    #

15. For those that enter the country illegally, yes, the bill is unwise.

    The bill covers an important group of people, though: the children of people dragged without choice across the border. An example that PRI’s ‘This American Life’ cited is a 4.0 GPA student at UCLA. She dropped out her senior year because she was unable to afford it plus medical school; she was carried across the border as a baby. It was not her choice. I would like to see something fill this crack.

    — Will    Oct 24, 05:45 PM    #

16. In our community, the undocumented students who entered the country under their parents’ supervision are among our finest high school students.Except for their immigration status, they are very well ajusted American kids who if sent back to Mexico would be like fish out of water. It breaks my heart to witness the cold insensitivity with which some of you discuss their plight. Any nation that depends on educated workers in a knowledge based economy should be proud to give these young students a chance at higher education.

    — DAVID JEFFERSON HARRIS    Oct 24, 06:15 PM    #

17. D. Burkhalter, What is outrageous is your opinion! These are hard-working kids who are doing all the right things – studying, working hard, trying to better their lives – exactly the kinds of behavior we want to encouarage in immigrants and citizens alike. What a pity that narrowmindedness and fear of difference prevent the Senate from even debating the issue! These are kids who did nothing illegal and did everything right, yet they are being punished for the alleged transgressions of their parents. Shameful!

    — John    Oct 24, 09:01 PM    #

18. I agree with John…Mr. Burkhalter, your opinion is quite outrageous. I would add that we need to move beyond this view of noting undocumented students as simply “illegal.” We need to view them as students who have been brought to this country, not of their own will, but so that they and their families might have a better opportunity at life. What’s more, it is impossible to keep all of these undocumented workers out, even if we wanted that to happen (which, in reality, we don’t…let’s just admit it). The bottom line is this: With Latino/Hispanic students being the largest population of minorities in higher education and growing (particularly in the southern regions of the U.S.), if we do not educate these incoming undocumented students, in the very near future this will result in a large portion of the Latino/Hispanic population (and the U.S. population as a whole) being uneducated. I don’t want to have such an issue to burden myself or my children in the future, so why not invest in the educational future of our nation now? It just makes sense…and did I not read somewhere this idea of “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…?” Whatever happened to that?

    — John Salazar    Oct 24, 11:02 PM    #

19. Mr. Salazar is not the first commenter on the issue of illegal immigration to quote Emma Lazarus’s poem as if it somehow magically had the force of law just because it was inscribed on a famous monument. It’s like saying that we need to go to war with Great Britain because of what is written on the Bunker Hill Monument.

    — J. Ward    Oct 25, 01:11 PM    #

20. It is interesting how things can be seen as only black and white. True: Illegal immigration is a problem and both countries (Mexico and the US) should find ways to decrease it. Also true: this is people whose only purpose is to help their families. There are already 12,000 million people here illegally. it is IMPOSSIBLE to deport them all. This country should be looking for the best solution not only thinking in a legalistic way, but also taking a humane approach to a very complex issue.

    — JD Garcia    Nov 7, 02:37 PM    #

21. i agree with ds the racism that this country belongs to white america is a day dream it belonged to the native americans such as myself and i do know why our persists to dodge such an important debate in the first place they should have let it pass with the 80 votes need and brought out all these issue instead trying to cover them up

    — jg    Nov 9, 06:35 PM    #

22. i agree with ds the racism that this country belongs to white america is a day dream it belonged to the native americans such as myself and i do know why our goverment persists to dodge such an important debate in the first place they should have let it pass with the 60 votes need and brought out all these issue instead trying to cover them up

    — jg    Nov 9, 06:37 PM    #

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