America Needs the DREAM Act

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Illegal immigration has been a constant topic of debate in politics. For years now, politicians have tried to create an immigration reform that will encompass all problems dealing with illegal immigration. According to an article in the Economist (2010), there are four major immigration problems that the country is trying to focus on solving; these are: securing of the nation’s borders in order to prevent more illegal immigration, expanding the number of high-skilled foreigners that America allows in and keeps, finding a way to ensure an adequate supply of “unskilled workers, perhaps through a guest-worker program”; and finding a solution for dealing with the 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. Till this day no one has been able to find the best solution to the growing problem, altogether. However, within the last decade, people such as Senator Richard Durbin and Representative Howard Berman have introduced a bill called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, into Congress which aims “to provide legal status and educational opportu¬nity to those who entered the United States as minor children” (United States conference of Catholic Bishops , 2010). Although this act does not fully solve the broken immigration system, it is one step closer to achieving a solution for the fourth issue previously mentioned.

This paper will go on to give a detailed description of the DREAM Act, as well as its history through Congress. This will be followed by the explanation of the opposing views on this issue. Finally, the paper will reference the different laws and regulations that impact this issue as well as court cases that have dealt with the issue of immigrant education.

Through t...

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